England's Next Top MP

Over the next few days we are going to start uploading the entries. First up is one with some bling bling star power which has decided to focus on the new MPs standing in England.

EXPLANATION OF IDEA

“In the wake of the MP’s expense fiasco”, it is time to change the way the public ‘views & votes’ on MP candidates.

The UK has 646 parliamentary constituencies, which means each of the 646 MPs receives a salary of 63,291 pounds annually plus up to 100,000-150,000 pounds in various office expenses (www.wikipedia.org) - a sizeable sum of money by any standard, which raises the question: ‘just what do the MPs do?’. The web provided a good starting resource to uncover this. An on-line article by Clare Evans on January 8, 2010, reports that Evans heard “MP’s reckonthey work on an average of 85 hours a week...” (www.ecademy.com). Another similar on-line article by MP Andy Reed states that, “the hardest things for people to understand is exactly what MP’s do and how they spend their time. As there is no Job Description this is understand able.” Reed also acknowledges that he “worked 60-70 hours rushing around and wonder[ing] where the time went...”. He writes that he only visited 2 other countries last year, one with Bible Society and the other with Oxfam, noting people like to describe his travels as “jolly”. On the contrary, “he would hardly describe it as that.”(www.andyreedmp.org.uk/howispendmytime).

And then he doesn’t lol. Obviously, this only adds to the confusion and raises more questions about what MPs do. I uncovered images of all the stuff MPs buy, which warranted a few chuckles,

but in terms of understanding what is an MP does, I found researching new MP candidates for this up coming election more informative. All sorts of interesting hopefuls ranging from activist to porn stars to gays to conservatives. I thought, ‘this would make for great comedy as a TV show!’

So, I selected 7 MP candidates based on their unusual backgrounds and uncanny strategies, they are to be followed and videotaped as they go about their daily business and travels. The competition will be judged by 3 very noted members of society but the results will be based on England’s votes from the public, which will be tallied digitally via the web, texting, &/or by placing your votes over the phone. During each of the four weeks (April 19-May 19) the candidates will compete by traveling and learning ways to spend less money as they will be educated by locals, professional travelers and real tightwads on the subject. Throughout the training there must be disciplinary measures/eliminations. These eliminations will be based on votes. Candidate who earn the public’s trust and receive the most votes will be safe from elimination. The lowest two vote getters go home until there is one person left, and that person will be London’s Next Top MP!