Whichever way the vote swings in today’s General Election, the dawning of a new political era will shortly be upon us. By tomorrow morning, as a nation we will have a much firmer idea of what style of leadership we can expect from the UK Government across the next four years. Following the snap decision by Prime Minister Theresa May to hold an election during an already tumultuous political landscape, as expected there has been much debate in the media in recent months around the suitability of those standing for office when it comes to running an entire country. As part of this wider conversation, it is widely expected during the course of campaigning that the past activities of all existing and prospective political candidates both personally and professionally are open to examination with the public interest in mind.
Which led us here at Complete Background Screening to ask the question: ‘Do We Really Know Who’s Running The Country?’.
In our line of work, where safeguarding the wellbeing of organisations from multi-national to small and medium sized businesses across the country is the number one priority, we couldn’t help thinking a bit more deeply about what kind of screening checks politicians are subjected to when running for office – and, more importantly, the potential ramifications of this. With such huge levels of responsibility hanging in the balance, it would certainly seem reasonable that those in charge of safeguarding an entire nation’s wellbeing, financial interests, security measures, educational needs, economic outlook and much more should be subjected to the same kind of background checks you would expect any CEO or other individual occupying a significant position of leadership within the private or public sector to be subjected to.
And yet the reality is that, as it stands, elected members of any political party are not subjected to background checks of any kind, whether they are later appointed into office or not. Many roles otherwise concerned with working on behalf of, or engaging with, the general public require some kind of background check, so why not politicians? Scandal and politics have long since gone hand in hand, and whilst there can be no doubt a candidate’s personal history should not be allowed to overshadow their political work, there is surely a need to validate the overall competency levels of anyone appointed to undertake a specific role, whatever it may involve?
In the newly elected Prime Minister’s case – whoever that person turns out to be – it would certainly seem justifiable that some degree of scrutiny be placed at their door, particularly in the current political climate. With unprecedented factors including the successful negotiation of Brexit, the effective management of ongoing instances of terrorism worldwide and more local issues including the UK economy and the future of the NHS currently on the table, background experience is no doubt set to count for a lot in the coming weeks, months and years.