Parlez~me~'n~Tory

Rightly Wry, Satirically RIGHT

With England now the World Champions in the Twenty20 it seems appropriate to use a cricketing analogy to describe the predicament that Jon Bercow finds himself in.

It is fair that Nadine, Kate and others can call the vote for the chair of the Speaker, after all, this House is supposed to be the bastion of democracy, the last place whereby man can call his master to account.

With that in mind it is somewhat disappointing that Twitter is full of self-interested bloggers today calling Nadine a liar and a spiteful person. What Nadine is doing in fact is issuing more chance for free speech than these bloggers ever have or ever will.

Personally, I hope the vote is called for Mr Bercow today. The vote would take place as an open vote, we would all know where those die-hard MPs had voted or indeed where those newbie’s had voted. Or, whether either had abstained.

One could argue that to usher in the new form of Politics, leaving behind the old term bias and scandal we need to have a vote on the Speaker. In my personal view Jon Bercow has done an admirable job, not spectacular but admirable, he, however, has let himself down on a number of ocasions but I put that down to the heat of the moment in the Political meltdown that was the death of the previous Government, a man is permitted to mourn.

So, at 14:30 Sir Peter Tapsell, The Father of the House will call for the Aye’s and the No’s and there will be sufficient No’s that in Sir Peter’s mind the House will split and a vote forced.

That vote will see the return of Jon Bercow to the role of Mr Speaker and leave Ming Campbell rueing his missed opportunity.

Jon Bercow will be returned not because he is necessarily the best man for the job but because this would be one change too far in too quick a time for the House to subsume. It is right that his authority is tested but the public would not thank the Coalition for what would be seen as a “dirty tricks” campaign to unseat The Speaker of the House.

Jon Bercow will be returned simply because now is not the time to do this.

Following this mornings post on how Parlez~me~’n~Tory found it ironic that Parmjit Dhanda was presenting a briefing entitled RESTORING TRUST IN POLITICS I have an update to the theme of the lack of transparency provided by Parmjit.

This morning’s post ended with the following update

Further evidence of a lack of PARMJIT’s transparency: I just received the following on Twitter after announcing this blog post!

@EllieMo1: Trust? Parmjit Dhanda? The man who, rather than face questions from a constituent, blocked her on Twitter?

Says it all really!

Well, after discussion with @DeclanLyons he reminded me that during Parmjit’s failed bid to become speaker of the House he preached to his potential congregation on how Parliament should engage with the public via the Internet, Facebook and Twitter…see for yourself (2mins 45 secs)

With that in mind @EllieMo1 wrote a simple Tweet (see below) to Parmjit asking what he had done with regards to the closing of the Cheltenham and Gloucester.

@parmjitdhanda asked for more information on mortgage and on repairs bill. Nothing yet from other Glos MPs

For her troubles he blocked her account and wrote her an abusive letter.

Somebody needs to remind Parmjit that with regards to him and other MP’s They Work For You. The forthcoming General Election would be a very good time to exercise that right.

Parmjit Dhanda, would you care to explain yourself?

This week has seen a return to Parliament for our MP’s after their extended summer recess; today sees a return to Prime Minister’s questions.

Gordon Brown is expected to announce a further 500 troops are to be sent to Afghanistan in the House today but that announcement will be overshadowed by something far grimmer.

During the 82 day holiday enjoyed by our [for the large part] elected representatives the War continued unabated in Afghanistan.

During the conference period brave men were dying.

During the {silly} season brave men were being maimed.

In the House of Commons today the Prime Minister will read out the roll call of those who have laid down their lives in the name of our country, in the name of our Government in the name of the vain.

His words promise to bring a tear to hundreds if not thousands of people across the land as they remember those that perhaps they never knew.

My only hope is that the Prime Minister does not stoop to his general low standards in the minutes following this reading with his usual partisan rhetoric whilst failing to answer any and all questions put to him in the House.

The fallen:

July

Rifleman Aminiasi Toge
Corporal Joseph Etchells
Captain Daniel Shepherd
Guardsman Christopher King
Bombardier Craig Hopson
Warrant Officer Class2 Sean Upton
Trooper Phillip Lawrence

August

Craftsman Anthony Lombardi
Corporal Kevin Mulligan
Lance Corporal Dale Hopkins
Private Kyle Adams
Private Jason Williams
Captain Mark Hale
Rifleman Daniel Wild
Lance Bombardier Matthew Hatton
Private Richard Hunt
Sergeant Simon Valentine
Fusilier Simon Annis
Fusilier Louis Carter
Lance Corporal James Fullarton
Sergeant Paul McAleese
Private Johnathon Young
Fusilier Shaun Bush
{An unnamed Royal Marine}
Sergeant Stuart Millar
Private Kevin Elliott

September

Lance Corporal Richard Brandon
Private Gavin Elliott
Corporal John Harrison
Kingsman Jason Dunn-Bridgeman
Trooper Brett Hall
Acting Sergeant Stuart McGrath
Acting Sergeant Michael Lockett
Private James Prosser

October

Acting Corporal Marcin Wojtak
Guardsman Jamie Janes
Lance Corporal James Hill

The good people of Great Britain, whatever your faith, whatever your politics, whatever your desires I implore you, PLEASE NEVER FORGET.

Less than 24 hours after posting Bob Ainsworth, a danger to any country! General Sir Richard Dannatt Chief of The General Staff has once again called for more support in Afghanistan.

In yesterday’s post it can be seen that Sir Richard is not so much a maverick as someone who no longer has to toe the party line, with only 1 week left in the job he can afford to tell it how it is, and that is exactly what we are witnessing.

Yesterday, TrueBlueBlood, made a damning but exceptionally accurate post on the recalling of Parliament and how David Cameron should not just support such an initiative but should spearhead the charge to force MP’s back to base.

Note: This is something I alluded to in my post on 18th July 2009 Dear Milky, nothing for 12 weeks please!

If I were an MP this summer I wouldn’t get too comfortable on the sun lounger as Andrew Strauss lifts and kisses the tiny urn before sending Messrs. Ponting and co on the first plane back to Australia as I fear there will be many more deaths in Afghanistan, many more claims and counter claims in the press about equipment and the lack of it. Ultimately, I feel that Parliament may well be recalled to debate the worsening situation for our highly valued troops.

It would seem that it may all be coming home to roost for our dear #GoBro, the hand of doom firmly planted on his shoulder.

That’d be the difference between our dear incumbent and Tony Blair who in April 1988 famously suggested A day like today is not a day for soundbites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders. I really do.

Doom and History, they go so well together, don’t you think?

It will be very interesting to monitor the next few days to see how Sir Richard’s replacement General Sir David Richards and Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary first defend their territory, attempt to counter the claim by Sir Richard and then deal with the situation.

I suspect this is one that just won’t go away in any short period of time.

That’s it then. Parliament is now on the wind down towards it’s summer recess with only Monday and Tuesdsay to go.

No matter how you look at it it’s just plain and simply wrong that our elected elite (that does not include #GoBro who remains an unelected dictator) leave the office for 12 weeks. Taken another way that is 82 days.

Ok, they’re not going to be sat around doing nothing during that time, at least we hope not. But the question does beg as to why they need such a long period.

There will of course be some surgeries, constituency gatherings and in my local MP’s case more photo calls. Living in Frome and opening the ‘orange’ Free Press (Free as in cost, certainly not alliance) it’s like a living and breathing episode of Where’s Wally!

LibDem energy spokesman Simon Hughes makes an interesting point but it raises further questions:

Nobody outside Parliament understands how we can leave Westminster on July 21 and not come back until October 12, and do our job properly

…so, Simon, are you saying once again that we, the electorate aren’t part of your inner circle? That being an MP is a closed shop? I invite you to explain and elaborate on that quote and please, if you would, supply the actual justification for the prolonged absence. Or, perhaps it’s ‘all within the rules’.

If I were an MP this summer I wouldn’t get too comfortable on the sun lounger as Andrew Strauss lifts and kisses the tiny urn before sending Messrs. Ponting and co on the first plane back to Australia as I fear there will be many more deaths in Afghanistan, many more claims and counter claims in the press about equipment and the lack of it. Ultimately, I feel that Parliament may well be recalled to debate the worsening situation for our highly valued troops.

With that in mind I do hope I am wrong.

It’s certainly been an explosive term this time around with the expenses scandal, e-mailGate, a vote of no confidence in the speaker forcing the first resignation from the post in over 300 years and a typically poorly planned and executed coup to oust #GoBro. The result of which is that GuacamoleMandy is now the PM in all but name.

That little fact should worry you greatly.

There were claims, counter-claims and accusations by the bucketload in this last episode of PMQ’s before the summer recess.

Main topics for discussion were Afghanistan, Helicopters and Unemployment. I do wish #GoBro wouldn’t interupt his own sentences to say “…LOOK…”; look at what? A national disaster?

John Bercow really needs to think deeply during his summer holidays about how he MUST control the time wasted by the PM in skirting the issue and his delaying tactics. PMQ’s lasts for 30 minutes and at the halfway point yesterday David Cameron had only asked 3 of his 6 questions, with some of the PM’s answers lasting for 2 minutes. Mr Speaker, Sir “It’s simply NOT good enough.”

Get the kettle on, sit back and watch #GoBro get YetAnotherMauling (YAM).
PMQ\'s 15th July 2009