´óÏó´«Ã½

´óÏó´«Ã½ BLOGS - Graham Smith's Blog
« Previous | Main | Next »

MPs lose their virginity

Graham Smith | 09:00 UK time, Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Four of Cornwall's MPs did something they'd never done before last - they voted against their own political parties. To be fair, Sheryll Murray, George Eustice, Sarah Newton and Stephen Gilbert have been Members of Parliament for only six months and it takes a while to pluck up courage...but when the moment is right, you just know, and I'm sure none will have cause for regret.

Andrew George and Dan Rogerson have been MPs rather longer and have both managed to rebel on various issues before. Last night, of course, was Devonwall and the MPs found themselves in the same lobby as (mostly) Labour MPs, nationalists, and Charles Kennedy.

The reason I say the MPs will have no cause for regret is that come the time of the next election, they now have some Parliamentary evidence they can point to to defend themselves against the allegation that they connived to abolish Cornwall's political border with Devon. This could prove extremely useful, as it seems inevitable that such allegations will still be made, and to some extent, those allegations might yet stick.

It was Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who pushed through the coalition government's case last night and I'm sure opposition party candidates will be keen to remind us of this fact at the next election. Ultimately, it still comes down to a choice between a referendum on the Alternative Vote system and Keeping Cornwall Whole. Nye Bevan would no doubt have talked about the language of priorities.

Tonight is the Third Reading in the House of Commons and the last opportunity MPs have to vote on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. I expect Cornwall's MPs to have put last night's indescretion behind them and to troop loyally as directed by their party whips. So tomorrow's Hansard will record that Cornwall's MPs actually voted in favour of the law which shares Cornish constituencies with Devon.

This will leave Cornwall's MPs vulnerable to the same "flip-flop" line of attack which harmed US Democrat candidate John Kerry when he said (of the decision to invade Iraq): "I voted in favour of it before I voted against it." At best, his supporters were confused.

Andrew George tells me he still has hopes of working some magic in the House of Lords. Possibly, although personally I doubt it - the timetable is so tight (to meet the deadline of a May 2011 referendum) that the chance of building a campaign in the Lord is vanishingly small.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Whilst not strictly on topic, have the MPs not got a mandate to represent the public opinion rather than self-preservation?

  • Comment number 2.

    Oh, I think that was lost about the same time as conscience,humility and honesty.

  • Comment number 3.

    Just out of interest Graham did they actually vote against the government on Andrew Georges amendment?

    And I wonder how Cornish MPs feel about the 300 peers to be sworn in this year, makes the 50 MP reduction seem quite insignificant in terms of savings.

  • Comment number 4.

    You're jumping the gun with all your false presumptions, Mr Smith.
    There is some way to go.
    This calumny is not done and dusted by any means.

  • Comment number 5.

    I think Graham knows more about the workings of politics than AC

    "....A CAMPAIGN to block the creation of a Westminster seat spanning the Tamar looks doomed to failure.

    Moves to prevent a so-called 'Devonwall' constituency being formed were kicked out by MPs.

    Concerns over a constituency crossing the Cornwall-Devon border have arisen with Government plans to equalise the size of seats at around 75,000 voters.

    It forms part of proposals to shrink the Commons from 650 to 600 MPs, and pave the way for a referendum on changing the voting system to the alternative vote..."

    Graham would this be part of referendum or is the referendum just on changes to the voting system?


  • Comment number 6.

    The proposed referendum is only supposed to be about changing the voting system from first-past-the-post to Alternative Vote.

  • Comment number 7.

    Seems a few are surprised about how the Cornish MP's voted

Ìý

´óÏó´«Ã½ iD

´óÏó´«Ã½ navigation

´óÏó´«Ã½ © 2014 The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.