Private security guards will soon be deployed at constituency events. MPs most at risk will be able to apply for 24/7 protection. Funds “will also pay for increased security such as CCTV, alarms and sensors required at MPs’ homes or constituency offices.”
This is not an issue we should ignore, especially after last Wednesday’s chaos in Parliament. But the language of some Conservative MPs has been hyperbolic and wrong.
More are reportedly saying that they will back a no-confidence vote if Sir Lindsay Hoyle doesn’t indicate that he’s stepping down. It would be quite something if his manoeuvre to get Starmer out of a tough spot ended up inflicting fresh dissension on the Conservatives.
So-called real recall had much to commend it over the version we got, which concentrates power with the parliamentary authorities. But it too could have been used to curb the independence of MPs.
The electorate is disillusioned. It does not think much of politicians. When it hears accusations that one side or other is corrupt or dishonest or on the side of terrorists or paedophiles, the whole system gets contaminated.
“I think every single one of us as an MP could give you a list of death threats and threats of attack that we receive on pretty much a weekly basis.”
The MP for Finchley and Golders Green describes the pattern of abuse that has led him to announce his intention to resign from Parliament at the general election.
However, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s demand for a mere Commons vote on every treaty is a poor substitute for the real, much less fashionable solution.
These were two of the motions put forward by Robert Jenrick and Sir Bill Cash to toughen up the scheme.
He also says that the Conservative Party “seems to me to be more strident than I am comfortable with, less compassionate than I am comfortable with, and verging on the xenophobic.”
The Prime Minister says the US and UK air strikes on Houthi targets were a “necessary and proportionate response to a direct threat to UK vessels”.
“This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history. People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own.”
A note of caution: whilst many of them did actively abstain out of opposition to the Bill, some will have missed the vote for other reasons.
Killing the Bill at Second Reading would have meant no opportunity for emergency press conferences and Star Chamber findings at Committee and Report.
Points of parliamentary procedure may seem arcane to journalists and the public, but their fair enforcement is vital to the proper functioning of our democracy.