Sedgemore: Twenty-two Years of Solicitude
The knifes and brickbats were out pretty sharpish for Brian Sedgemore yesterday once he’d announced his defection to the Liberal Democrats.
Now, I don’t have a lot of time for the optimally-timed political defection. If you’re defecting on so-called honourable points of principle, why add insult to injury? It just cheapens what you’re trying to do. Sedgemore took the opportunity to additionally shaft the party that had been his home for decades.
But it was the nature of the attacks from New Labour, its apologists and some journalists that interested me most.
Michael White in the Guardian described Sedgemore as “one of politics’ loners” and said “neither mateyness nor ingratiation were his style and he lacked the reliable brilliance which might have compensated.”
Oliver Kamm, rabbit punching him on the way out, said “Sedgemore is, in short, a man of neither ability nor attainment who held a safe Labour seat for 22 years”.
Blair dismissed him to the voters as “someone they have never heard of”. John Prescott apparently said, “Whoever heard of Brian before?”
Sedgemore’s constituents in “his safe Labour seat” had certainly heard of him. Maybe it was safe for a reason. I got an email from William who said:
Actually he was my MP for six years… and a very good constituency MP, if a bit eccentric sometimes.
But to Tony and John backbenchers are a bunch of people no-one’s heard of.
As many of the 97 intake are unlikely to become as well known as Brian Sedgemore was, do you think they might be a little pissed off at their role being so completely dismissed?
He was a responsive constituency MP who did that part of the job well.
So there you go - 22 years of looking after constituents. Granted, he didn’t reach the glamorous, heady heights of bombing women and children or privatising public services, but somebody remembers this man of “of neither ability nor attainment” with a degree of fondness and hasn’t dismissed 22 years of service with a “who?”.
Posted on April 27th, 2005 at 9:40 am
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Similar to the Tories with their “bed blocker” thing from a while back. One of those on the list was the MP I used to work for. Absolutely stereotypical Tory country MP. Everything you’d expect. (We didn’t agree on everything politically or philosophically, shall we say.)
In parliament 30+ years - of which 22 were in government, yet ne’er a whiff of a ministerial position. Why? Because he spent pretty much every waking hour dealing with constituency matters and facilitating charitable work in Westminster. In the office 7am every day, not leaving until 11pm. Every letter from a constituent replied to within two days, and usually followed up two weeks later.
Meanwhile, all those poor sods who have an MP who’s a minister and revelling in having been “heard of” find themselves screwed. Is it any wonder that Sedgefield consistently ranks in the bottom 10% of constituencies for employment, public services, quality of life, life expectancy, job security, etc etc?
To me this shows the contempt that Tony Blair and some others have for Parliament. They don’t need it, so they don’t respect it, when the delicate balance between the Executive and Parliament is fundamental to our political system. The (in my opinion) increasingly presidential style of New Labour is in danger of skewing this balance and, with a consitution based on tradition and precedent rather than writing, this can easily be done.
I agree, Kirkham. The politics are becoming more and more like the childish mud-slinging and contempt for checks and balances seen in America.
Oliver Kamm, rabbit punching him on the way out, said “Sedgemore is, in short, a man of neither ability nor attainment who held a safe Labour seat for 22 years”.
What’s the difference between Brian Sedgemore and Oliver Kamm? Oliver Kamm hasn’t held a safe Labour seat for 22 years.
*cough*
Alan Milburn
*cough*
http://alanmilburn.blogspot.com/