Why is there no Lib Dem candidate

In this constituency, General Election 2015 has largely passed us by. No matter how we vote, 78,000 people in the Buckingham Constituency can have no impact on that titanic struggle between Labour and the Conservatives, or a say in that increasingly possible scenario of the Lib Dems joining a coalition once again after May 7th.

It isn't that we already know, or can be pretty sure of, who is going to win here - people in the majority of constituencies have that near certainty. It's just that we don't even get the chance to - if we wish - add our single vote to the cumulative totals that would boost the legitimacy of Messrs Cameron or Miliband to become prime minister. Or Mr Clegg to wield the balance of power.

That's because we live in the seat of the Speaker of the House of Commons. And, once again, honouring the time-dishonoured convention, none of the three major parties is fielding candidates against Mr Speaker.

The Greens and UKIP are on the ballot paper, opposing John Bercow, "Mr Speaker Seeking Re-election".

So is it right that enough electors to fill the Olympic Stadium be mere bystanders in this vital political debate, with no opportunity to influence its outcome? We suspect that many of the voters in this constituency will think it isn't, and will agree that the convention to not oppose the Speaker is a throwback to a more deferential, forelock-touching time, which has no place in the political life of emancipated UK today. Particularly so in the face of the current inescapable, and almost admonitory, appeals to the electorate, flowing from politicians and the media, for us to engage in the democratic process.

The tradition not to stand candidates against the Speaker has been in place for as long as there has been a universal suffrage. It has been breached in past elections by the two parties above, and in the past by the SNP, Labour and the Liberal/SDP Alliance. But these breaks with convention, at least by the big parties, seem to have had more to do with political expediency, or dislike of a particular Speaker, than the wish to make a point against an outdated, unwritten understanding. Only the Conservatives have observed the tradition without a break.

The election of an MP by his or her fellows to the role of Speaker, who then becomes an MP of no party affiliation, results in that person being unable to represent constituents in parliament, either in debates or by voting. Without the support of a political party behind him or her, the Speaker also has little influence behind the scenes.

This means voters in the Speaker's seat are effectively disenfranchised. Speakers, as far as their constituents are concerned, can do little more than take on the casework of individual constituents and give their backing to local campaigns.

Now, however, comes the opportunity to move to a way of electing. or re-electing, the Speaker that doesn't require a random, sizeable group of voters to pass up their right to vote, with the full choice of candidates other constituencies offer, in a General Election.

Very late in the day the Liberal Democrat leadership did break ranks, agreeing, just before the close of nominations a few weeks ago, that the local party in the Buckingham Constituency was free to field a candidate against the Speaker, and to do so as a matter of political principle.

The change of mind was based on a decision taken by the part's Federal Spring Conference in 2014. Delegates adopted the policy paper Power to the People, a package of political and constitutional reforms "designed to engage people with the political system….where Westminster is openly accountable to the public it serves". The paper included the "St Stephens" proposal. The idea is that once a Speaker is elected, he or she becomes the MP for the St Stephens constituency (after the forner chapel in the old Palace of Westminster), made up only of MPs. A by-election would then be held in the Speaker's original constituency.

The St Stephens solution, or an equivalent, was advanced as long ago as 1935 in Parliament, and has been raised again several times since. This may not be the perfect solution - it could be said to sever the direct link between the Speaker and the electorate, for example. But it serves at least as a promising starting point for the formidable brainpower of Parliament's constitutional experts to consider if they were minded to seek an answer.

The local Lib Dem constituency party executive had campaigned for this option, and the right to put up a candidate to contest the seat since 2009, shortly after Mr Bercow was voted in as Speaker, while wishing no respect for the dignity of his office.

It received a final go-ahead only a short time before nominations closed, but was unable to find an approved candidate willing to stand who was not committed elsewhere, in the very short selection time frame. Even then, to show the enduring strength of the convention, it was told by several of the potential candidates that they did not think the Speaker should be opposed.

Nevertheless the days of this ancient, anomalous convention may be numbered. It is distinctly possible, if not likely, that, whichever is the Speaker's seat in 2020, there will at least be a fully-sanctioned Lib Dem candidate standing. Whether he or she is joined by Labour and the Conservatives, remains to be seen, unless Parliament has its own ideas in the interim.