Outside nominations to the Legislative Council: Professions.

In an earlier blog I charted the change in the type of candidate being nominated to, and elected to, Legislative Council by the Keys. It was not until the 1990s that MHKs began to nominate, and elect, “outsiders” to Tynwald, previously having almost exclusively appointed MLCs who had experience of Tynwald either as MHKs or as sitting MLCs. From the 2010s the majority of those nominated to the Legislative Council were these kind of outside nominations.

The process of a lower chamber of a legislature appointing members of the upper chamber appears to be unique in contemporary constitutions; although there are some historic parallels. One significant feature of the process is the relative transparency. I need to stress relative – there is evidence of parts of the process that have not survived (for instance candidate CVs circulated by nominating MHKs in some years; or group meetings with interested MHKs and candidates), and it seems likely that there are other interactions which have not been recorded. We do however have comparatively extensive records of why candidates were put forward by their nominating MHKs, either incorporated into Hansard when nominations were part of Tynwald proceedings, or by Tynwald documents when the process moved onto paper). This includes both successful candidates and – distinctively – unsuccessful candidates.

I have collated information on all 63 outside candidates considered since 1962, and am currently analysing this dataset by reference to a range of characteristics put forward in the process. My focus is on the speeches (later letters) proposing a candidate, rather than carrying out independent research into the biography of each of the 63. This makes the analysis more bounded, but I think can also be justified on quality grounds. Candidate X may have been an official in a youth movement, and a police officer, but the proposers decision to talk only of X’s work as a police officer indicates what the proposer saw as persuasive to fellow MHKs sitting as an electoral college. That is to say, a focus on the proposers choice of characteristics shows us what they regarded as relevant and persuasive to other MHKs.

In this blog I look at the professional, employment, or career background of the candidates. I have classed each candidate by the categories used in the Manx Census 2021, Level 2 (described here). To help ensure consistency of how I class particular professions or careers I have also taken account of the UK NOMIS Employment by Occupation (SOC2010) characteristics, which usefully expand the Tier 2 categories with sub-categories (described here) . I have noted every profession or career mentioned by a proposer, rather than tried to make a judgment as to “primary” career – where the proposer mentioned a number of careers, each was seen as making the nomination more persuasive. So, what professions and careers were seen as persuasive?

Dominating the nominations were the broad category of “Business, Media and Public Service Professionals”. This very broad professional category includes for instance legal professionals including judges, accountants and economists; architects; journalists and PR professions. 35 candidates feel into this category. To break these 35 candidates down a little: 15 were finance sector professionals; 6 accountants; 6 lawyers; 4 media professionals; and a single quantity surveyor, single actuary, single architect, and single economist. The only other categories with 10 or more candidates were Protective Services Occupations (including armed forces, police, and the fire service) with 11, and Corporate Managers and Directors with 10.

55% of the candidates were from the category Business, Media and Public Service Professionals. To put this into context, in the 2021 Manx Census, just under 7% of the Manx working population were classed in this category. Entire categories of occupation have never been mentioned in nominating a candidate – on the Tier 2 table on the Manx Census, from Secretarial and related occupations down (constituting 44% of the Manx working population in 2021), only one person had one of these occupations referred to in their nomination (so less than 2% of all nominations). John LIghtfoot, described as an auto electrician who worked for the bus company for 39 years, was nominated in 2007. He was not elected.

This mismatch should not be seen in itself as a killer fact. Reference to profession or occupation is so ubiquitous in MLC nominations because it can function as short hand for, or evidence of, skills and traits that the proposer sees as useful to an MLC. For instance a lawyer with judicial experience might fairly be represented as able to “provide professional legal and technical opinions on the construction of Bills and various other legal matters” (nomination of Mr Michael Moyle by Mr Houghton in 2015). I will be seeking to unpack these characteristics in future blogs. Nonetheless, that the working life of so much of the Manx population has not been seen as useful preparation for the role of MLC should be food for thought to those seeking a diverse and representative Tynwald.