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Conservatives should cherish their EU rebels. Parliament needs troublemakers Conservatives should cherish their EU rebels. Parliament needs troublemakers
(4 months later)
Whenever I hear of proposals to make it easier for MPs to expel other MPs from parliament or for voters to get the right of recall against those who offend them, it makes me nervous. For every expenses fiddler who might fall foul of such a mechanism, a potentially great leader might be felled before their time or a troublemaker of genius removed for a transient error of judgment.Whenever I hear of proposals to make it easier for MPs to expel other MPs from parliament or for voters to get the right of recall against those who offend them, it makes me nervous. For every expenses fiddler who might fall foul of such a mechanism, a potentially great leader might be felled before their time or a troublemaker of genius removed for a transient error of judgment.
Parliament is always short enough of proper troublemakers without purging those it has. In my own time I have watched a galaxy of talent causing trouble for the government of the day. It doesn't get any easier because frontbench career politicians have conspired to rig the rulebook, making it harder for rebels to disrupt proceedings by depriving ministers of that most valuable commodity – time.Parliament is always short enough of proper troublemakers without purging those it has. In my own time I have watched a galaxy of talent causing trouble for the government of the day. It doesn't get any easier because frontbench career politicians have conspired to rig the rulebook, making it harder for rebels to disrupt proceedings by depriving ministers of that most valuable commodity – time.
But it can still be done, as the wet-behind-ears class of 2010 are beginning to discover. Europe, Leveson, snoopers' charters, gay marriage, privatisation of Britain's forests – if old tools wither, they have to fashion new ones.But it can still be done, as the wet-behind-ears class of 2010 are beginning to discover. Europe, Leveson, snoopers' charters, gay marriage, privatisation of Britain's forests – if old tools wither, they have to fashion new ones.
Thirty years ago there was Labour's booming Tam Dalyell, whose backbench memoirs are called The Importance of Being Awkward; Dennis Skinner, now 80 but the MP who heckled Black Rod's ritual summons as usual on Queen's speech day; Robin Maxwell-Hyslop, a Tory procedural bore of genius, though not as clever as Labour-turned-SDP proceduralist George Cunningham. Alan Clark, he just loved mischief. Norman Tebbit, Neil Kinnock and Jeff Rooker, Nigel Lawson, Jim Sillars, young Gordon Brown ...Thirty years ago there was Labour's booming Tam Dalyell, whose backbench memoirs are called The Importance of Being Awkward; Dennis Skinner, now 80 but the MP who heckled Black Rod's ritual summons as usual on Queen's speech day; Robin Maxwell-Hyslop, a Tory procedural bore of genius, though not as clever as Labour-turned-SDP proceduralist George Cunningham. Alan Clark, he just loved mischief. Norman Tebbit, Neil Kinnock and Jeff Rooker, Nigel Lawson, Jim Sillars, young Gordon Brown ...
Some were clearly doing it to draw attention to themselves and win promotion. Others just revelled in being what a good backbencher should be: loyal but questioning. Tebbit was the Skinner of the right but had a field marshal's baton in his lunchbox. Skinner himself had no ministerial ambitions. Whatever Tam Dalyell's hopes, they were dashed early on, when he got into trouble over secret weapons research at Porton Down. His file in the whip's office would have been marked TROUBLE.Some were clearly doing it to draw attention to themselves and win promotion. Others just revelled in being what a good backbencher should be: loyal but questioning. Tebbit was the Skinner of the right but had a field marshal's baton in his lunchbox. Skinner himself had no ministerial ambitions. Whatever Tam Dalyell's hopes, they were dashed early on, when he got into trouble over secret weapons research at Porton Down. His file in the whip's office would have been marked TROUBLE.
Dalyell's greatest supplementary question is still remembered. When a minister gave him a waffly answer expecting a waffly supplementary, the Etonian simply boomed: "WHY?" It put the minister right back on the spot. Harder to do than you might think, as students of the Parliament Channel must know.Dalyell's greatest supplementary question is still remembered. When a minister gave him a waffly answer expecting a waffly supplementary, the Etonian simply boomed: "WHY?" It put the minister right back on the spot. Harder to do than you might think, as students of the Parliament Channel must know.
It's not just a bloke's function either. Violet Bonham Carter, Bessie Braddock, Shirley Summerskill – all before my time, but trouble. So was young Barbara Castle – in spades. More recently we seen tenacious Jo Richardson and Joan Lestor, young Harriet Harman and others. Does Nadine ("posh boys") Dorries have the staying power? We'll have to see.It's not just a bloke's function either. Violet Bonham Carter, Bessie Braddock, Shirley Summerskill – all before my time, but trouble. So was young Barbara Castle – in spades. More recently we seen tenacious Jo Richardson and Joan Lestor, young Harriet Harman and others. Does Nadine ("posh boys") Dorries have the staying power? We'll have to see.
Let's look at some giants of the past: Winston Churchill and Aneurin Bevan. Churchill crashed in flames over the Dardenelles fiasco of 1915-16, bounced back to become chancellor, then retired to the backbenches in 1931. As everyone knows he emerged from his wilderness years to lead the country in its darkest hours. But he had a narrow shave which should give the recall lobby pause for thought. On a visit to Chingford, then Norman Tebbit's seat, in the 80s, I asked an old Tory activist if it was true that Neville Chamberlain's bagmen at party HQ had been trying to get Churchill deselected ahead of the 1940 election that never was. "Oh yes," he said. "My dad was part of it." Hmmm.Let's look at some giants of the past: Winston Churchill and Aneurin Bevan. Churchill crashed in flames over the Dardenelles fiasco of 1915-16, bounced back to become chancellor, then retired to the backbenches in 1931. As everyone knows he emerged from his wilderness years to lead the country in its darkest hours. But he had a narrow shave which should give the recall lobby pause for thought. On a visit to Chingford, then Norman Tebbit's seat, in the 80s, I asked an old Tory activist if it was true that Neville Chamberlain's bagmen at party HQ had been trying to get Churchill deselected ahead of the 1940 election that never was. "Oh yes," he said. "My dad was part of it." Hmmm.
One of Churchill's boldest tormentors throughout the 1939-45 war was Nye Bevan, the turbulent ex-miner and future chief author of the 1948 NHS settlement. Like all of them a mixture of creativity and destructive power, Bevan felt no need to defer to Churchill because there was a war on. He made himself a confounded nuisance, unpopular with his own side too. But power should always be challenged – that is the troublemaker's most profound belief.One of Churchill's boldest tormentors throughout the 1939-45 war was Nye Bevan, the turbulent ex-miner and future chief author of the 1948 NHS settlement. Like all of them a mixture of creativity and destructive power, Bevan felt no need to defer to Churchill because there was a war on. He made himself a confounded nuisance, unpopular with his own side too. But power should always be challenged – that is the troublemaker's most profound belief.
So let's not worry right away about those Tories recklessly giving David Cameron the John Major treatment over Europe in 2013, as Theresa Gorman, Tony Marlow (he of the striped blazer) and Bill Cash (still hard at it) did in the 90s ... John Baron, nice Charles Walker, old lags like Cash and John Redwood, Douglas "Kamikaze" Carswell.So let's not worry right away about those Tories recklessly giving David Cameron the John Major treatment over Europe in 2013, as Theresa Gorman, Tony Marlow (he of the striped blazer) and Bill Cash (still hard at it) did in the 90s ... John Baron, nice Charles Walker, old lags like Cash and John Redwood, Douglas "Kamikaze" Carswell.
I think their strategy misguided and their tactics immature, but I defend their right to do it and hope they pay the price for folly next election day. That is how it should be. And who knows, the headbangers may be right, if not this time, then next time. The speeches that Thatcherite Peter Lilley made on the euro 10 years ago read pretty well today. You can never tell.I think their strategy misguided and their tactics immature, but I defend their right to do it and hope they pay the price for folly next election day. That is how it should be. And who knows, the headbangers may be right, if not this time, then next time. The speeches that Thatcherite Peter Lilley made on the euro 10 years ago read pretty well today. You can never tell.
Hang on to the troublemakers. All the compromises and skullduggery necessary to normal political life and government would be intolerable if all 650 MPs were Skinners, Dalyells or Lloyd Georges. But Westminster needs a few of them as bread needs yeast.Hang on to the troublemakers. All the compromises and skullduggery necessary to normal political life and government would be intolerable if all 650 MPs were Skinners, Dalyells or Lloyd Georges. But Westminster needs a few of them as bread needs yeast.
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