MPs in Wonderland..........

Today’s politics remind me of the immortal words of Grouch Marx:

‘The secret of life is honesty and plain dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made!’

Having stalked the corridors of power for many years, I reckon that MPs can and do so many things in the House - sleep, eat, drink copulate - without going outside into the street it becomes a world of its own, and they become increasingly detached from reality. Politicians often have very little real life experience of the problems about which they pontificate so freely, especially if they don’t belong to the ‘class’ that they claim to represent.

Let us take that tribune of the proletariat, the Rt.Hon. Harriet Harman QC, MP.

She is from upper middle class stock. Her father was a Harley Street Doctor, her mother a solicitor. She is related to Lady Longford, Lady Antonia Fraser, and Lady Billington. She went to St Paul’s School for Girls, one of London’s poshest fee-paying establishments. She studied law at York University and was a barrister. Nothing wrong with any of that, but it hardly suggests that she has any concept of what life is like for people on low incomes or living on a sink estate. There was, of course, the famous picture of her going walk-about in her constituency complete with police escort and stab vest.

Her most recent contribution was the Equality Act which made it lawful to discriminate against white men in employment matters.

Admittedly, she does have some ‘previous’ to give her street-cred; a conviction for perjury (later overturned by the ECHR) and an impressive string of motoring convictions.

There are many like her. Since the advent of the professional politician the House is now stuffed with people who have been little else but politicians, including Dave and George. I had great respect for Labour politicians of the old school, who had come up the hard way, like that real gentleman George Thomas. With the exception of the Beast of Bolsover, there are not many left. Most of the conviction politicians also seem to have departed, people like Tam Daziel, life-member of the Awkward squad and a genuine toff, one with convictions and courage. There are some with genuinely working-class credentials on both sides of the House, but few on the Front Bench of either side. David Davis and Alan Johnson spring to mind, both top men but now relegated to the back-benches.

‘’Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You who were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed are yourselves become the greatest grievance. Depart immediately out of this place! Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves, be gone! In the name of God, go!’

Ah , Cromwell, thou shouldst be living at this hour!