MP to quit over second job rules

Labour MP Howard Stoate has said he will quit at the next election because new second jobs rules mean he will no longer be able to practise as a GP. I think this is a shame. I would have thought the leaders of the parties in the Commons could have been a little more sensitive and serious about this attack on second jobs. It is in part a reaction to Conservative MPs and the negative publicity that went with expenses scandal. Some Labour MPs jumped at the chance to be spiteful, not least Harriet Harman, who has a frenetic mind when it comes to petty jealousies. So in the scrum for perceived political cleanliness, the good go down with the ugly, leaving the rest to turn out as possible bad MPs as far as having had a life is concerned.

I would not bother with second incomes. Personally I couldn't stand being represented by a robotic lobby fodder merchant, who just did as told. Dr.Stoate says, "It is apparent that Labour candidates standing for Parliament at the next election will be expected to give up their outside jobs if they are elected. I respect this view but I think my own contribution to the work of Parliament would be diminished if I was to give up general practice, which is why I have decided not to stand as a candidate at the next general election." Sad reflection on the current lemming-like desire for apparatchik politicians.

Dr.Stoate will have contributed far more that someone coming out of a researcher's office at 22 and "never looking back"!

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Norwich not tonight!

For the first time since I don't know when, the counters at the Norwich North by-election won't have to start counting until tomorrow morning. I think the last time a daytime result was on offer was the Honiton by-election in which Sir Peter Emery was victorious. 40-odd years ago! That was a good result - Emery stood to address the assembled masses and said, "The first thing you will want me to do is..." and a chap from the crowd conveniently interjected, "Bugger off back to Reading!". Gales of laughter from the Liberal Party and red faces from the Conservatives.

There are various reasons given as to why democratic tradition such as by-election night is knocked on the head. One is that it costs more to pay people, such as the police, to hang around until the early hours. Another is that bank clerks, traditionally employed for their rapid digit dexterity, are too knackered after a day counting other people's money in the financial product selling shops.

Whatever the reason, Norwich North has gone politically due south. No result until noon tomorrow. High Noon? Maybe. This has been a fairly fevered election, with UKIP and others putting up a bold fight for votes. Can the Conservatives cut the mustard? Maybe. But as Sir Jeremiah Colman wryly pointed out, he got rich by the amount of mustard people wasted on their plates. Can David Cameron get rich in votes or will the electorate waste them by staying at home?

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Norwich North By-Election

If you want a comprehensive study of this by-election, look no further than Look East from the BBC. A very good compilation of the events leading up to tomorrow's vote.

I predict a Tory win, not in emphatic style but rather like Roy Jenkins at Glasgow-Hillhead for the SDP. It could be that the Conservatives win on less that 33% of the vote. If that is the case, stand by for more verbal fisticuffs from the "losing" parties.

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Billy Goats Gruff

Gordon Brown said he wanted a "government of all the talents". He got a few willing helpers and put them into the House of Lords. They were instantly dubbed the GOATS. Now in biblical times sheep and goats looked rather similar. Both species had long ears and scruffy coats. Separating the sheep from the goats was not always an easy task. The sheep were considered flockish and docile, the goats independent and self-willed.

In many ways it was a good idea of Brown's. The people chosen were well respected and knew their subject. However, being in government is not the same as advising government. So the latest "defector" is Lord Darzi. He wants to go back to his medical world "to devote more time to his clinical role and academic research". And no doubt be paid a lot more.

That is going to be the problem from now on. We will get a House of Commons stuffed full of paid, full-time career politicians and a neutered House of Lords. One thing the Lords brings is wisdom. Where will the wisdom be in this brave new world after the election?

The next House of Commons will be a pretty sad place if all the mavericks, the independent spirits and the believers in something have been pushed aside by on-message apparatchiks. The power to stop it rests with us the electorate.

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Norwich North By-Election

The Norwich North by-election is getting along nicely, now entering its last two-week phase. 12 candidates up for election to be confirmed later today.

They are -

Peter Baggs - Independent
Thomas Burridge - Libertarian Party
Anne Fryatt - NOTA (None Of The Above)
Bill Holden - Independent
Alan Hope - Monster Raving Loony Party
Graig Murray - Put An Honest Man In Parliament
Chris Ostrowski - Labour
April Pond - Liberal Democrat
Rupert Read - Green Party
Chloe Smith - Conservative
Glenn Tingle - UK Independence Party
Robert West - British National Party

That makes a dozen to choose from. However, the front runners are the Labour, Conservative, Greens, and Craig Murray's coalition. Who comes third will be as interesting as who comes first. I also think voters should give young Thomas Burridge a good hearing and consider him too!

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George Osborne facing flipping inquiry

It has concerned me, as a possible returnee to the Conservative fold, that David Cameron saw fit to keep his shadow cabinet from the wolves yet was glad to let the so-called grandees fall on their swords. He knows that several were extremely naughty boys when it came to dipping their hands in the expense pot.

George Osborne is now facing an inquiry by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner into aspects of his expenses claims. He is accused of claiming for mortgage payments "that were not necessarily incurred". The chap who complained about Osborne is Laurie Burton, the chairman of the local Labour Party in Mr Osborne's Tatton constituency. He says, "I share the outrage and anger of the great majority of people in this country, of all political persuasions, who have seen what has gone on in Parliament, who don't like what they see and like even less the fact that some MPs just refuse to accept what they have done and refuse to pay any money back."

I can't really fault that. It is a great pity that David Cameron allowed things to pass with a degree of favouritism. There is an element of Blairite superiority here, a kind of riding roughshod approach. Perhaps Osborne is in the clear, perhaps not. But it all seems a little unfair on people like Sir Peter Viggers, who was pilloried for his duck house claim, a claim that was actually rejected.

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Brown says he is honest

Gordon Brown has insisted he is being honest with people about his spending plans amid opposition claims he is hiding the truth about future cuts. "I've always told the truth" he says. Why is it that he finds himself with so many believing otherwise?

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