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Barry Gardiner: I rise simply to correct the assertion I made earlier that the Press Gallery was bereft. I have since noticed the not inconsiderable frame of one of the members of the press-I believe from the Jewish Chronicle-who-

Mr Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman entered the House with me in 1997, and he is aware of the normal custom that one does not refer to people outside the Chamber. I allowed a modest latitude for the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone), because what he was saying was central to the thrust of the argument that he wished to develop, but to get into the business of identifying individual journalists is not good for the House, and it is probably not good for the egos of the journalists concerned either.

Mr Hollobone: I am grateful for your ruling, Mr Speaker. Should there be any members of the Press Gallery up there this evening, they should be commended on turning up, although as you know, the reputations of lots of members of the Press Gallery precedes them, whether they are here or not.

----

The MPs were discussing what I consider to be an important issue but as you can probably guess, it didn't receive much attention from the press. A troubling situation has developed in which ministers are making important government policy statements to the media first, instead of to their fellow Parliamentarians. It is a situation that is spiraling out of control. You might be wondering why this is significant.

Well for starters, the practice belittles the constitutional principle that ours is a representative parliamentary democracy, not a murdochracy or beebocracy. As such, and for better or for worse, the Members of Parliament are the elected representatives in whom we have vested our trust, to hold the government of its day to account for the decisions that it makes. The Commons should have the first opportunity to scrutinise executive policy by voicing the concerns of their constituents. The first place the media should hear of such important business is either from the Press Gallery or from live coverage of BBC Parliament. Any other forum is a ministerial media spin cop out.

But even if we ignore the constitution, there is no hiding from the ministerial code of conduct, policed by the Prime Minister. Paragraph 9.1 clearly states: "when Parliament is in session, the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance in Parliament". Unfortunately our current PM and his predecessors have failed to implement the code and in the short existence of the present government, there have already been a number of contraventions, most notably with the Queen's Speech. And where the current crop of ministers have at least chosen to apologise in the House, the previous government didn't even bother! Therefore a tougher regime of sanctions is necessary. I like the idea of a suspension. It's harsh, but it's high time Parliament clawed back control from the Executive. This is as good a place to start as any. And to support the campaign is a Mr John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons.

Date: 2010-07-25 02:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pappubahry.livejournal.com
ministers are making important government policy statements to the media first, instead of to their fellow Parliamentarians.
Eh, we're way ahead of you guys. Our leaders tell the media their policies before they even tell their own party members.

Earlier this year, Tony Abbott, the conservative leader, decided to raise the company tax rate to pay for a paid parental leave scheme. There was an exchange somewhere outside parliament that went something like this.

journo: What do you think of the idea to raise company tax rate to 32% to fund full-pay maternity leave?

conservative MP: It's a typical 1930s socialist impost on big business, designed to relieve the government of meeting its responsibilities to provide paid maternity leave to the women of Australia.

journo: (whispering) But it's your policy.

conservative MP: (laughing) Oh. Well, that's all off the record.
Edited Date: 2010-07-25 02:28 pm (UTC)

Date: 2010-07-25 03:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mcgillianaire.livejournal.com
Priceless. And to be fair, that's precisely what's been happening here. The MP who started the debate is a Tory, though perhaps he is becoming better known for his illiberal views on the burqa. And as the MPs mentioned it themselves, the situation has spiralled out of control because backbenchers of the parties in power are also finding out about their government's policy from the TV and radio's most popular news programmes first! 24-hour rolling news is part of the problem but that's something that's here to stay. The pressure of the media is admittedly immense and the situation is not helped by the fact the members don't start proceedings in the House until 2pm. And they don't debate on weekends, leaving the ministers open to attack by ambitious Sunday editors. So I eagerly await the Committee's recommendations, but for now I cannot see how anything other than tougher sanctions will work.

Date: 2010-07-26 04:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] drunkendeadcat.livejournal.com
this is fascinating

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