Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

SPRING AT LAST

At last spring is here, the trees and fields are parading their glory once again; a timely reminder that despite all of the challenges, we live in the best part of the country.

And a welcome compensation from a week of grim political headlines. In the early days, I would inwardly rejoice in the misfortunes of our opponents – but not any more. Each politician’s steamy affair is a family and personal disaster. As someone who believes passionately in marriage, I hate the thought that another one bites the dust, especially late in life when the hard work has been done.
And every major governmental cock-up is to the detriment of the country, or in this case, the victims of unnecessary and avoidable crime. So no champagne corks popping there either.

Plus: whenever there is another Westminster scandal we all get tarred with the same brush, and the popular respect for those elected to govern slips further; cynicism grows, and future turnouts at all kinds of elections plummets.

So what’s the answer? Our Westminster village must rediscover the culture of taking responsibility and resigning. It would go a long way to restoring credibility. If I make a huge mistake as an MP, or do my job consistently badly, it is fair enough to let the electorate decide whether to send me back to Parliament or not. All MPs are entitled to submit themselves to the ultimate jury: the 70,000 people who send us there in the first place.

But when we are ministers (as I was at the tail end of the last Conservative government, a thousand years ago) we should be ready to resign when we fall short of the standards required of us, either in the way we carry out our job, or if we bring our government into disrepute through our personal misconduct. Yes, I do think having a secret affair with a civil servant in your own department and then seeing the sordid details dragged through the press is grounds for resignation. I am actually old fashioned enough to think that if you cheat on your wife, you may cheat on your country and it should affect your ministerial career – although I accept my view is a minority one.

But the primroses are coming out in force; the swallows, those magnificent, chattering, swooping aviators are back and Jan’s new foal, Bertie, is haring around the field like a lunatic. All is not lost.

posted by Nigel on Saturday, May 13, 2006