I had always thought that although Parliament was sovereign, in that it alone could propose legislation, individual members, as representatives of the people, were ultimately responsible to the people who elected them and had a clear duty to faithfully represent the views and interests of those people; a naive opinion, I know.
Out of 3137 votes held in Parliament since May 1997 Greg has voted only 2489 times and has voted against the government on a mere 21 occasions,(
source: publicwhip.org.uk). On that basis he is considered to be extremely loyal to his party.
It troubles me a little when one considers that at the last election from a turnout of 56% of the people eligible to vote Greg managed to convince just 18,136 (46%) to cast their vote for him. Which, by my very rough reckoning, means he represents somewhere in the region of 25% of the electorate, give or take a handful. Not really what you might call a ringing endorsement is it, when 75% of the people you represent would rather have had someone else represent them. Call me old fashioned if you must, but I cannot help the feeling that, in his position, I would be bending over backwards to prove my worth to the people on whose continued goodwill and forbearance my job salary, pension and expense account depended.
Instead, Greg appears to have decided that his best interests lay in voting with the government for the Iraq War and, again with the government in opposing a Select Committee Inquiry into the events which led up to it. He was also helpfully absent from the vote on whether there should be judicial inquiry.
He also voted for the Hunting Ban, the Ban on Smoking, for ID Cards, replacing Trident and Student Top-up Fees. Tellingly, perhaps, he voted strongly against a more Transparent Parliament.
I can think of few members of this forum who would agree with Greg's position on anything in that list
Wikipedia is a little more illuminating about Greg's career to date;
“In April 2000 as a whip, Greg Pope inadvertently approved a Liberal Democrat clause in the government's utilities bill, committing the government to meet 10% of electricity requirements from green sources by 2010. Pope said: "We were doing a series of government amendments. I realised I'd shouted aye too many times. I'm not overjoyed about it." The error led the government to instruct its MPs to vote against the clause.
In July 2003, Pope admitted leaking confidential Foreign Affairs Select Committee evidence to TheGuardian newspaper chief political correspondent Patrick Wintour. The move was described as an attempt to "bounce" MPs on the committee into clearing Alastair Cambell of "sexing up" the so-called Dodgy Dossier of evidence into the threat posed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.”
But this is not all that Greg has busied himself with during his time as Hyndburn's M.P.
The list of Early Day Motions that he has appended his signature to is similarly revealing:
Haggis Industry Skills Shortage
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=34933&SESSION=891
Inquiry into the Assasination of Benazir Bhutto
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=34913&SESSION=891
East Cheshire Hospice Christmas Tree Collection
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=34911&SESSION=891
are just a few examples, the complete list can be found here: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMByMember.aspx?MID=203
He also busies himself as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and is curious enough to ask Parliamentary Questions on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Health, Defence and The Treasury.
Since 21st June 2001 (six and a half years) Greg has spoken 36 times in Parliamentary debates, a mere 11 of those referred to his constituency and the interests of the people who voted for him. It would be easy to believe that though his contributions have been few they have yet been of great pith and moment. I am sorry to have to relate, in one debate he made three contributions; one to bemoan the size of his majority, a second to praise a fellow MP and a third contribution consisted of just one word “Palmerston”.
So it seems that far from lauding Hyndburn from the rooftops and pushing government to spend every last penny it can afford on the borough. It seems that the interests and concerns of the people of Hyndburn must take a very poor third place to Greg's career and his determination to do whatever the government whips tell him to do. Not so much a foot soldier but more of a camp follower.
From 1992 to date, in pursuit of his Parliamentary activities, Greg has earned £900,000 (approx.) in Salary, has claimed £1.6 Million(approx.) in expenses, and £148,000 (approx.) in pension contributions, which, when he reaches retirement age (assuming he remains an MP for another ten years) will pay him an astonishingly comfortable £93,000 per year; three times more than a similar amount invested by a private citizen.
Am I the only person who is troubled that there is apparently so little to show for 16 years of work on our behalf and the outlay of £2.5 Million (approx.) of hard earned tax-payers cash? Is it unreasonable of me to expect more from our MP than to be a mediocre place filler and party yes-man? Were Ken Hargreaves and George Davidson any different when they represented the borough? Perhaps some members think that the person and his accomplishments are unimportant, so long as he has the right party stamp on his forehead.