JAMIE STONE: High office should not come before serving the public
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Jamie's Journal by Jamie Stone
There is one MP in the House of Commons who speaks far more than any other.
He is called Jim Shannon and he represents Strangford in Northern Ireland.
No matter what the debate is about – be it nursing in Wales or the Scottish fishing industry – Jim rises to his feet and says his bit.
Loquacious he certainly is, but he does also represent his constituents and their needs very well indeed.
In truth, he has become something of an institution in the Palace of Westminster.
At the other end of the spectrum, there was an MP called Zac Goldsmith.
He represented Richmond Park and said virtually nothing in the House.
I do remember him once making a very short intervention, but that was it.
Perhaps the only reason I remember it is because it was such a rare event.
Of course, he is now in the House of Lords (by the care of his old school chum, Boris Johnson) but I am not aware that he says anything of interest there either.
This takes us to the fundamental question – what is an MP there for?
“I am damned if I’m going to be a glorified social worker!” one Conservative MP said to me a couple of weeks ago.
From this, I inferred two things.
Firstly, he wasn’t overly interested in taking up issues that will loom large in the lives of many of his constituents, such as housing and health.
Secondly, he didn’t have a particularly high opinion of social workers.
I for one wonder how people get away with taking that attitude towards representative democracy.
In recent times, a number of non-appearing MPs have become glaringly obvious by their invisibility.
Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng and Nadine Dorries, to name but four – two of whom are, of course, recently departed from the house.
Once they are stripped of the trappings, privilege and cash of high office, it seems they regard the House of Commons as an inferior place to be seen.
A house much too common.
I find this attitude quite astonishing as well as a little insulting to the place they have been elected to serve and the arena that provided them with the first steps on a ladder to become the ruling elite.
The more I think about this, the more it tells me that they merely saw winning a seat as a means to an end, definitely in the case of Boris Johnson.
I do wonder what their constituents – who need help sorting out problems in their lives – think of this.
One thing is for sure, it doesn’t do much for the standing of democracy in the collective mind.
However, there is one shining example that we should all remember.
One ex-Prime Minister attends the chamber regularly, mixes with her fellow MPs, is cordial to Parliamentary staff, and is much admired in her constituency.
Her name is Theresa May.
When you think that the likes of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss craftily engineered her removal, you can see just what a dirty business politics can be.
The more I see of Theresa, the more I admire her. She gets it.
I very much hope that the history books will be kind to her – the others I mention above have already written their own entries.
I do not believe they will make pleasant readings.
- Jamie Stone is the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
