A primary choice in 'duck island' seat

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By Chris Mason Political reporter, BBC Radio 5 Live, in Gosport

A duck island like the one claimed for by Sir Peters Viggers MP

Welcome to the home of the duck island.

The bath plug, porn films and dodgy mortgages might have caused outrage.

But it was the Conservative MP Sir Peter Viggers' attempts to claim more than £1,500 from the taxpayer for that ornamental garden ornament which provided the iconic image of the expenses scandal.

It's the expense claim which made news in the New York Times and the Sydney Morning Herald.

And it's the expense claim that has left a pervasive, lingering, ever-present cynicism here amongst most of the people I have spoken to.

'American import'

So the Conservatives in Gosport have reached for an innovative political deodorant.

There is a widespread acceptance that on its own it won't get rid of the expenses stench - but it is novel nonetheless.

A 'primary' is an American import, only done once before in the UK. The idea is the entire electorate gets to decide who the Conservative candidate for Gosport will be at the next general election. Not just those on the Tory selection panel.

Over 350 people attended the hustings

A total of 190 candidates for the Tory ticket have been whittled down to just four who will now face the popular vote.

Anyone on the electoral register can have a say. It's not about pandering in private to the whims of a few dozen party members, it's about campaigning in public to more than 70,000 ordinary people.

If that means standing in the rain, wind and dark early in the morning with a hastily constructed placard in an attempt to woo passing motorists, some of these guys are up for it.

From the market stalls, to the football, to offering citizenship classes to local schoolchildren; this campaign - and what the candidates are willing to do - paints a picture of a by-election in a marginal constituency.

Except the four candidates are all Conservatives, and, at least for now, they merely aspire to be their party's candidate for Gosport.

Facing questions

A pivotal moment of the nomination race here is the only hustings event, which took place on Friday night in the Thorngate Halls.

Anyone local could turn up, and plenty did. Over 350, despite Pudsey and Children In Need providing a read-made excuse not to bother.

It seemed most were Conservative voters, but not all. The candidates - two men, two women - each had a chance to make their pitch, before facing questions from the floor.

To a lesser or greater extent, they all appeared nervous. Little wonder, in a format like this, the elephant traps are more than just big, they are everywhere: get the local details right; appeal to the core Conservative vote; appeal to voters more inclined to vote for other parties - all at the same time.

The questions were unforgiving. "Given the economic situation we're in, which taxes would you put up?" "What would you say to the local paper if the BNP leader Nick Griffin said you were the best candidate for Gosport?" were two amongst many that had no shortage of googly potential.

And still the questions and anger on MPs' expenses was never far away. This was from a group of people not sufficiently disillusioned with politics because of those claims that they couldn't be bothered to turn up.

'Nice innovation'

A number in the front row of the audience muttered they didn't know much about any of the candidates, and none of them were local.

Valerie and Vaughan Bidewell said it was a 'nice innovation'

But afterwards, most appeared energised.

"It's a nice innovation. It's quite expensive which is going to be a problem, but it makes you feel more empowered, more involved - you're taking part more actively in the whole selection process, whereas before you either voted for MPs or not," said Valerie Bidewell, 62, from Lee on Solent.

Her husband Vaughan, 64, agreed.

"The process is a good one. The cross-section of the audience isn't a true representation of the whole constituency - but that is true of politics anyway, you're only going to attract those who are somewhat interested.

"But it has probably brought out a lot more people than would normally attend a meeting. It's much better than just being presented with somebody."

Geoff O'Neill, 65, a former mayor of Gosport, was also impressed by the process.

"It was very useful. I think it is the way forward for the Conservative Party. I didn't have any idea who I'd vote for beforehand, and now I know."

But it is a process that comes at a cost - it's left the Tories with a bill for around £20,000.

And critics, including some local Conservatives, dismiss it as a gimmick that simultaneously takes power away from loyal party members, while not really presenting the public with a real choice.

Gimmick or not, the primary guarantees intrigue and unpredictability.

The hustings might now be over. Some candidates might think they rose to the challenge. Others might be ruing slip-ups.

The reality is there were only 350 votes going in the hall. More than 70,000 are still there to be won before the winner is announced on 4 December.

Those ducks with a taste for the high life have caused quite a revolution here.