How Royalty Can Help the BC NDP

NDP-Leadership-Race_5.jpg

What the NDP can learn from the royal family about spicing up its leadership.

The NDP picks a new boss in a province-wide vote on April 17. Meanwhile, preparations continue for the wedding of the future king and queen of England on April 29. Check the poll numbers of the respective principals and the result is hardly a ringing endorsement of democracy. Maybe the New Democrats should consider Royal Doulton candidate figurines.


Democratic movements may be sweeping the Middle East, but judging by public sentiment, royalty still rules. Over 600,000 tourists are expected to descend on London for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Admittedly, the NDP is not actually holding a convention that people can descend on. But given the option, would anyone have descended? Consider this: so far not a single name designer has offered to outfit Mike Farnworth or Adrian Dix for the big day.


It’s been a tough winter for the party overall. Last fall’s massive NDP lead in provincial popularity disappeared with the resignation of Premier Gordon Campbell, whose poll numbers had lagged somewhere behind bedbugs and roadside dental surgery. Safe to say that when B.C. voters enter the ballot box in 2012 or 2013 they will do so holding pencils in one hand and noses in the other. But if B.C. political parties seek signs of hope, they might find them in the example of the Royal Family. 


It was not so long ago that the royals seemed beyond the help of even the most accomplished PR firm. Scandal and a sense that the nation’s rulers had lost touch with the people led to more than one annus horribilis. And now look at them: bright new faces, hope for the future, mountains of free TV airtime. The British royals have proved that new faces can change everything. 


Certainly there have been royal critics in the U.K. A few questioned the propriety of Ms. Middleton receiving Princess Diana’s engagement ring – a touch morbid, they suggested. But that seems harsh. It’s not as though William offered Kate his mother’s gold fillings. And any quibbling has been drowned in an outpouring of adulation and excitement. Farnworth, Dix and company should be so lucky. 


The NDP has had some procedural difficulties along the way. The party constitution states that at least one of the positions of leader, president or treasurer must be held by a woman – a problem since the current treasurer is a dude, none of the candidates is female and President-For-Life Moe Sihota would probably deploy the military to hang on to his post. Pundits have suggested that this gender rule is an example of NDP political correctness, but I think they misunderstand. The party is simply attempting to import some ideas from royal wedding protocol. Like the traditionalists of the British monarchy, the New Democrats are clearly opposed to same-sex unions. 


These days, B.C. parties are not as much fun as William and Kate’s promises to be. While that blessed event begins with a “yes,” Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson – the NDP’s Prince William-esque poster boy – said “no” to the party before they even had a chance to propose. But the truth is that good looks do not explain the popularity of Britain’s Royal Family. In 1649 Charles I dropped so far in the polls that his royal head dropped into a basket. What really keeps the 21st-century royals popular is what they lack: power. Let Queen Elizabeth II start messing with harmonized sales taxes or privatizing British Rail and see what kind of crowds show up at royal appearances.


Certainly much of the world will be watching the next big royal event. There’s even been talk of William and Kate heading for a Whistler vacation afterward. That would be nice – at least somebody in B.C. would be getting a political honeymoon.