Tuesday 23 June 2009

Our new Speaker

My colleague Tanya Joseph quite rightly blogs about the task confronting our new Speaker. She also reminds us that, many years ago (and before he became an MP of course) John Bercow did some work for Westminster Strategy, the first public affairs arm of Grayling. It was at a time when Mr Bercow used to get written up in some satirical magazines as a very right wing sort of chap.

When I met him at WS, it was quite clear to me he was no such thing. I cannot now recall what it was we debated one day when I suspect we were both supposed to be doing something else, but I remember the realisation that he wasn't ultra-right wing at all, and indeed that we appeared to share some markedly similar middle of the road views. And he could laugh at himself, which made a change from quite a few politicos I have met over the years.

For those reasons, I have followed his career at a distance with interest. Of course I never expected him to become Speaker, but then who would you expect to take on a role like that? Decent as she is, I am jolly glad it wasn't Margaret Beckett. I just don't see how you step out of Government and turn into the Commons Champion.

But the sight on TV last night of John Bercow in a robe made me realise not only that a few years have passed - I am not prepared to say how many! - but also that be seemed to me to become it. He's an interesting chap, someone who has thought a lot about his views and not been afraid to express them. It's going to be very tough, but the Commons needs a Speaker who can rise above the entire appalling spectacle of the last few months, and let's hope Mr Bercow will prove he is the one.

Thursday 4 June 2009

Le Déluge


In the Commons last night where MPs look totally shell-shocked from a week of astonishing drama. The situation is so grim it's moved beyond party politics. Conservatives are openly as alarmed as Labour by rumours that Labour might drop to fourth or fifth in the polls tonight. Just at this moment they all feel the tumbrils are rolling.

The tide of public hostility is so strong and deep Parliament has something of the atmosphere of Custer's last stand. The demonstrations in Parliament Square - where last night the voice of a protestor shouting through a megaphone seemed to bounce off all those Victorian Gothic walls with particular resonance - add to the feeling of encirclement.

And one thing's for sure. No-one really has the faintest idea what IS going to happen when the votes are counted after today's polls. "I have never seen anything like this in my life," said one deeply worried Member.

Monday 1 June 2009

It's just not cricket



Watching a village cricket match, a commotion breaks out in the corner of the field. Players start running from all corners. Turns out the the scout shed, which stands under trees in a secluded corner, is being burgled as play takes place. Match is brought to a halt as our brave lads circle the miscreants and demand that all the paddles - being placed in a car boot before the kayaks - are put back. After a lot of swearing and threats, said miscreants do so and drive off. Registration numbers are taken.

That's the good news. The bad? The players don't think the police will take any interest. And they think the thieves - bold as brass after all to do this with a match in progress - may indeed make good their threat to return one night and burn the shed down. "And the police still won't do anything," said one player, gloomily. I don't know whether he's right or not, but it disturbed me how little faith any of those present had in the blue line. I wondered what our politicians would make of it. Then I remembered most are far too busy explaining their conduct at the moment to have much time for the ordinary goings-on of our lives. That's the whole problem.