And another thing…

I well remember the uproar across the House when Labour tried to force her out.

Here, here. Perhaps you too should take head from such wise words Tom!

Actually, that last comment by me was quite petulant. I agree with the sentiment Tom, there just seems to be few MPs that would put their duty beyond political gain before their own ambitions and the success of their own political partys!

And do you think Tom that Gwyneth would have approved the whole Tory Toffs spin that Labour used at the Crewe & Nantwich By-Election.

Did Damian come up with that one? LOL

Funny isn’t it that Edward Timpson MP actually went to a Grammar School and not a Public School as Labour tried to spin.
Now as for Tony Blair! He went to Fettes College – that IS a Public School. Come to think of it; didn’t most of the Labour Front Bench go to Public school?

Having checked the excellent Crewe Blog – I see that Edward Timpson sided with local Trade Unions in opposing the closure of Crewe Post Office which the Government – That’s YOUR Labour Government – want to close.

How ironic to see a ‘Tory’ MP siding with the ‘Trade Unions” against a ‘Labour’ Government.

Who would have thought it?

Hear hear to that too. I hope the people of Glasgow South will vote Tom back in, not because of the Labour Party or Gordon Brown but in spite of them, because of who Tom is.

True, but didn’t the Labour Party select Gwyneth Dunwoody’s daughter to succeed her and look how that ended up.

Nepotism can work, or near enough nepotism but only if that person has the required skill-sets.

Jim Baxter
Monday 20 April 2009 at 8:14 pm
I hope the people of Glasgow South will vote Tom back in, not because of the Labour Party or Gordon Brown but in spite of them, because of who Tom is.
—————————————

Sweet Jesus, let’s not get too carried away. One post on teenage pregancy doesn’t make you Frank Field.

To some of the ducklings on here, Tom Harris is mother duck.

If you prick him does he not bleed?

(That’s Shakespeare by the way)

“I hope the people of Glasgow South will vote Tom back in”.

In Glasgow South they don’t bother weighing the votes, they just ask Tom what he feels would be a respectable number for the other parties to have got.

@Sammy,

I’m totally under Tom’s spell. I’ll vote for him no matter what. Yes, I’ve finally become a Glaswegian. Stick a red rosette on it and it gets my vote.

I’m a gosling btw. For all your Shakespeare quoting you’ve never read Konrad Lorenz’s book have you, about the goslings, have you, eh? ‘King Solomon’s Mines’. No, wait that was Rider Haggard…

Er, ‘Ring of Bright Water’… no.

Stumped. This much I do know. He didn’t do the Mona Lisa, that was an Italian geezer…

Erith & Thamesmead, being a solid Labour area (also known as an area with high welfare dependency and social housing) is a perfect example of Labour’s achievements over the past 10 years or so.

It is still seen as a huge ghetto, cutoff from surrounding areas by a lack of decent transport links and shops. Much of it arose in the GLC days (also under Labour).

Then in recent years a flood of new investment arrived in the property boom, with flats going for £275k for a 2 bedroom. Like much of Labour’s debt fuelled bubble, people got mortgages fraudulently and paid way over the odds.

Oh, and it got the nickname “Little Lagos” due to massive amounts of credit card fraud based in the area.

Result? Mass repossessions, new built flats which have plunged in value by 50-70% in a couple of years and an area where people are afraid to walk around at night because it is so quiet.

A fine example of the labour governments achievements

Georgina Gould is far too young, far too inexperienced in life.

Let’s do a comparison. A young person joins the army and goes to Sandhurst. Average age? 22. Then they have to do 3 years service before they’re given serious responsibility so that makes them 26/27 before they fully begin to understand their responsibilities. Of course they’re not paid anything like an MP but I would argue the army officer is more committed to his/her job.

Some would argue an MP can lose their seat at an election. My answer is any military person can lose their life in the defence of this country.

She needs to late 20s/early 30s before she’s considered. I know you’ll disagree Tom.

@Jim Baxter

“This much I do know. He didn’t do the Mona Lisa, that was an Italian geezer…”

Leonardo?

Leonardo da?

Leonardo da Caprio!! That’s the one.

Tom.

Can I get comment of the week now? Can I?

I agree with RandomRanter. Just because an individual like Gwyneth Dunwoody has ‘the right stuff’ doesn’t mean every life peer’s offspring should get a free pass. That would be as bad as a blanket assumption that all such people, including Anthony Wedgewood Benn, are bad ‘uns.

And I agree with sammy. I have, in this past week, noticed a strong streak of ‘emperor’s new clothes’ running through this blog’s comments section. Tom Harris MP differs from my own member of parliament most markedly in that he blogs profusely, at least once a day, and welcomes most commentary, even when it’s negative.

He’s *not* the Messiah, though. He shares with PD excessive* confidence in his ability to differentiate between the trivial and the significant, or the merely well observed and the truly argument clinching. The comment above, while insightful, should never, in my view, have launched this entry. ‘Gwyneth Dunwoody’s mother was… a life peer!!’ doesn’t make anyone else’s daughter a shoe-in for any seat. As being GD’s daughter didn’t, apparently, make her her mother’s rightful heir, either.

And the ‘knuckle draggers’ comment was little and low.

*though everyone will have their own opinions about ‘excessive’ confidence.

randompunter@’—– but didn’t the Labour Party select Gwyneth Dunwoody’s daughter to succeed her and look how that ended up.’

was it the clp who selected her or central office who imposed her ?

I don’t see why Georgia Gould’s age or background is a problem. Surely there should be younger MPs in the House of Commons as well as older ones, to represent the whole country – just as we all (I hope) want to see women and ethnic minorities in Parliament.

Let’s not forget that Tony Benn (former Viscount Stansgate) was 25 when he was first elected in Bristol in 1950.

@Joe K,

What are you talking about? Who says anyone should get a free pass? If you’re up to the job, then that’s all that matters. Who said Tom is the Messiah? He’s a decent, able, intelligent bloke and such people are always to be prized in politics. He has his faults – Battlestar Gallactica being one – but on the plus side he hates football.

As for Georgia Gould being ‘only’ 22 as others have said, Charlie Kennedy was ‘only 23′ (I think – thereabouts anyway) when first elected. Few people did more to humanise politics in recent times than he did and I’m not referring to any illnesses that he may have had.

There was a selection some time ago, in a safe Labour seat when a Labour government had been in power for a long time. On the shortlist were two former MPs and the 24-year-old son of a Labour Peer who had been at public school and Oxford and had held no political offices since leaving university.

The CLP selected the 24-year-old. His name was Tony Benn.

I’m not sure we can have *two* comments of the week, David