Corporates seek to subvert our electoral system

I pick up my wife’s Telegraph today and read that the chairman of Standard Life, one Gerry Grimstone speaking in London to his fellow fat cats said, “an exit from the EU would be disastrous for London and the UK”. This is the same Sir Grimstone who during the Scottish referendum threatened to move the Standard head office from Edinburgh to London if the Scots had the temerity to vote for independence. Sir Grimstone speaks only for himself and his bonus. He does not speak for the ordinary people of these islands. He is simply trying to intimidate his workers into voting the way that will benefit his already very large profits.

The Sir Grimstones of this world are the reason that in  1872 parliament passed the Ballot Act requiring parliamentary and local government elections use a secret ballot aas the Chartsts had demanded 40 years earlier. You may read about it in Wikepedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_Act_1872

It was of great importance in Ireland where tenant farmers faced eviction if they voted against their usually English landlord. It is the core of Trollope’s Palliser novels where Phineas Finn showed great courage in supporting the Act and was rewarded by marrying the rich and lovely Madame Max Gessler, a Viennese Jewess.

We face the same problem today except Sir Grimstone is more subtle. His views are worth no more than any one elses. The English are always very deferential to Sirs and Lords. The Scots are not.

Consider Norway, I quote from Wikipedia