View From The House - 26th April 2000

Reprinted From The Lichfield Mercury

I am writing this article from my home in Lichfield now that the House of Commons has finally broken up for the Easter recess. With Easter being late this year, it has been a long hard slog down in Westminster with many late nights. Coughs and colds abound: one Labour MP friend (yes, despite how we all appear on TV, most of us all get on very well together) reckons our resistance to disease gets worn down through being 'just dog tired' as she puts it.

My office is not actually in the Palace of Westminster. It is in what used to be New Scotland Yard on the Thames Embankment. Older readers may recall the TV series "No Hiding Place" with Chief Inspector Lockhart. At the beginning of each show, a black Wolsley car with a blue light on top would sweep into the building - well, that's where my office and that of my secretary, Joanne, is based. The advantage is that the offices are brighter and airier than those in the old Palace and when the Division Bell rings, signifying a vote, it needs a brisk sprint back to the Commons to get in to vote within the 8 minutes allowed. It saves my having to join the House of Commons gym. The disadvantage struck home to me the other night when I was walking back to the Commons late one night in the pouring rain behind a fairly well known Labour MP in her sixties, plodding along the pavement, her shoulders hunched against the wind and weighed down by the piles of documents she was carrying. I thought to myself "And people think we lead a glamorous life?" Oh, and just for the record, I did volunteer to carry her stuff.

But I suppose in many ways it is glamorous. Although Prime Minister's Question Time is more theatre than legislature, reputations can be made or broken in those few minutes. MPs have Parliamentary Privilege which enables them to say anything without fear of prosecution or being sued for slander. I used it a few years ago to expose corruption in the BBC when licence payers money was being diverted into a few pockets. I had to name names and the national press were able to reprint them without fear of prosecution themselves. This is not something done often and should not be done lightly. I would never forgive myself if I named someone, ruining their reputation, only to find out later that they were innocent.

And Parliament is a friendly place behind the scenes. It is an extended family and politicians of all parties work together on the scrutiny of Government Bills, the work of Government Departments, and on All-Party special interest groups. Regarding the latter, I am an officer of a number of engineering and management groups because of my past experience together with the All Party Royal Marines Parliamentary Group. But the most unusual group I have just been roped into is the All Party Chocolate and Confectionery Industry Group - where the Labour Chairman (she is a woman, but agrees that "Chair" is a Chippendale maybe, but most certainly not a human) has asked me to be the Vice Chairman - the vice being the love of chocolate, no doubt. So Tudor Chocolates manufactured in Alrewas and sold in the Tudor Café in Bore Street Lichfield can now know that they have a strong voice in Parliament!

And what of Lichfield? Well, just 3 years of Government policy has closed our courts and already one building society bank has moved away saying we can all go to Tamworth instead. Despite a healthy economy, the future of hospital services in Lichfield, Burntwood, and Barton is at risk. And as for the funding of the Police, well I need not comment about the changes over the last 3 years. They are there - or not there, sadly - for everyone to see.