the Party Whip and the Career MP
A good article from yesterday's First Post covering the rise of the Careerus Parliamentarianus - another genotype in the opposite vein to Rogus Parliamentarianus.
MPs towing the party line can at least look forward to the prospect of ministerial and cabinet positions. If you don't follow the party whip you're pretty much stuck as a backbench MP - and without another income/career your job prospects aren't exactly gonna be great.
All the same, it'll be fun asking them to support the Misrepresentation of the People Act ...
Ministry of Truth : Do you believe in honesty, transparency and accountability ?
MP : Absolutely, it's the foundation of our democracy.
Ministry of Truth : Did you know there's no law which requires these from an MP and allows the electorate to legally hold them to account for lying ?
MP : Yes, but there are Parliamentary bodies and commissioners that handle this.
Ministry of Truth : Precisely, they all report to either Parliament or the PM - you can't be judge and jury in your own trial. Even Sir Philip Mawer (the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards) admitted there's a gap.
MP : Did he ? I seem to remember his predecessor mentioning that. I think you'll find our system delivers the most honest and accountable government anywhere in the world.
Ministry of Truth : That's not the point. You're representing our sovereignty and there's no form of independent legal redress for us to hold our elected representatives to account.
MP : That would undermine the very basic principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.
Ministry of Truth : Exactly, it's our sovereignty and we've drafted a bill which enshrines the honesty and accountability of our elected representatives in law, it's called the Misrepresentation of the People Act - will you propose it for us in Parliament ?
MP : Is that the time ? Blimey, I've a constituency meeting to get to.
The Misrepresentation of the People Act is well placed to take advantage of the trend towards career politics: if the result of successful prosecution is the MP’s immediate disqualification from the right to stand for election, no career politician would risk having their career curtailed by lying to the public.
ReplyDeleteBut would anyone go into politics if they faced prosecution for misrepresentation etc.
ReplyDelete"Sagarus said...
ReplyDeleteBut would anyone go into politics if they faced prosecution for misrepresentation etc."
You might as well ask if anybody would go into business if they faced prosecution for misrepresentation etc. If we manage to live under a bunch of statutes and the threst of civil and criminal prosecution - why can't MPs ???
The point is that politicians ought to be forced to abide by the same rules as everyone else. They are in power to serve the people
ReplyDelete"Politicians ought to be forced to abide by the same rules as everyone else". Check out the post on the 2006 Equality Bill - http://mo-truth.blogspot.com/2007/02/geese-and-gander.html
ReplyDeleteWell, I feel this post is almost an homage. I am liking you more and more Minstry.
ReplyDelete