Passing go and collecting £10,000, Scots millionaire's has a £6.5m fund for independent candidates to stand for public office, if you thought politics was just for ‘smart’ people think again, anyone can stand and showcase their abilities, you don’t ask you don’t get, anything holding you back when you see the current political crop failing us time and time again?

Dear All

One of the things I have learned in politics over the years is that anyone can stand for political office.

Qualifications required…… zero!

Life experience……… nil!

Chosen by God…… not required!

Ability to talk sense…. Desirable!

When you watch politicians on TV, you might they know everything, but the reality is they don’t, let’s take an example of SNP MSP John Mason.

 John Mason MSP is co-convenor of Scottish Parliament's finance committee, I campaigned for him 3 times; anyway he gets embroiled in a Twitter row over how much cash Westminster gives to the Scottish government.

During the spat he asked:

“How is national debt different from national deficit?”

Luckily there was a 6 year kid to help him out.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/6964863/Scottish-Parliament-fiscal-expert-taught-financial-lesson-by-six-year-old.html

See what I mean, you don’t need to be smart or tick any of the boxes you think be a stumbling block to you standing.

You don’t even need to be a decent person to stand for public office either as the SNP have proven time and time against in the shape of their elected representatives, or even be hard working or turn up on time, or give a toss!

Yesterday, I blogged on the odious Natalie McGarry, in the past we had people like Charles Kennedy and Alastair Darling looking after Scottish interests, now we have a load of knuckle draggers who can hardly string a sentence together without lying or whinging.

In 2013, after helping many people get elected, I found myself standing as a candidate in the Govan by-election, no resources, no money and effectively no help; however two mates did a 2 hour canvassing session for me, and never let me forget it!

I came 7th of 14, despite only running a 17 day campaign and doing polling station duty to ask the neighbours to vote for me, plus I have two hate campaigns running against me, one by the Nationalists and the other by Tommy Ball who was convicted in October 2015 at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Now, it seems that a reclusive Scottish millionaire is willing to bankroll independent candidates across the country to stand for public office. The newly-launched Campaign for a Free Parliament, which will give £10,000 each to 600 would-be MPs, and it is said it will also target Holyrood.

I had planned to stand for Holyrood myself but when I became serious ill I had to shelve those plans, basically I was living under the shadow of cancer, ended up having an operation and was bleeding all over the shop post op.

It was grim!

One of the things missing in politics in the UK is choice, not just choice but also people who aren’t tied to party lines and dogma, the biggest thing missing in politics is people being able to freely think. The classic example is the SNP, some the MPs and the MSPs are of such low calibre that they know if they keep their mouth shut, they will keep their meal ticket.

Anything which opens up politics to radically increase the number of independent MPs at Westminster is a good thing, when no one holds the balance of power; you get better government in my opinion. In some countries get coalitions formed all the time which is a good thing.

You might say what about the minor parties, can’t they fill the role of the independents, I say, look at who is running them, look at their track record, then make your own mind up.

Apparently some Labour MPs who oppose leader Jeremy Corbyn fear being ‘deselected’ as the candidate to fight the next election, some of them have to go, careerists who were Blair clones did a lot of damage to Labour. In the last leadership contest, Jeremy Corbyn stood out as the man to beat because the membership didn’t want a careerist; they want someone who is a free thinker.

That said, being a free thinker has it draw backs, especially if the person puts their agenda ahead of the party and country, leadership requires a wider world view. If you are thinking of standing for Westminster, the indy MP campaign plans to hold open primaries in all 600 Westminster constituencies to be fought in 2020.

The winners will be selected though the online voting websites Vote-Scotland and Vote-England.

Co-founder and campaign director Martyn Greene said that he had already been contacted by people who wanted to stand for Holyrood as well.

He said:

"It is probably unlikely that we will be able to for May's Scottish Parliament elections. But we want to extend this to Holyrood as well as Westminster."

Given a straight up choice of where I would rather do to do politics, I would chose Westminster because of the chance to learn, the experience down the road is far better than you get in the Scottish political pond.

Anyway, if you are up for it, then consider this, as long as you satisfy the legal requirements, there is nothing stopping you.

Of course you would have to run a proper campaign and abide by the conditions of the scheme if selected but what have you to lose.

Never let someone tell you that you are not good enough or that someone is better than you, if you want to stand then just do it.

What do you think George Laird, the Member of the Westminster Parliament, and if I get stuck, I can ask any 6 year old kid for political advice and how to spend my pocket money!

Finally, I guess the millionaire sticking up his cash isn't sold on Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP Cult as being 'Stronger for Scotland', the public deserve better, they deserve what they had in the past, people who are committed to public service and not self service.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University