Although proposals to make constituencies roughly the same size have already been approved in principle by MPs, they require a further vote on their implementation in time for the next election.Please do, Nicky boy! It means our esteemed mascot would be off the hook.
Mr Clegg added: "I have told the prime minister that when, in due course, parliament votes on boundary changes for the 2015 election I will be instructing my party to oppose them."
Six of Yorkshire's most high profile MPs will find themselves looking for new seats under radical proposals to reduce the overall number of constituencies in the county.It just goes to show what a masterful politician our Phil is. It just took a few cleverly-placed words in Nick's shell-like last December and the seed was sown. Obviously.
The Shipley constituency of outspoken Conservative backbencher Philip Davies will [...] be abolished.
Remember, guys and girls, we got him on that stage so he could perform his woo and fill us with hope for more barnstorming efforts, like this, post 2015.
The only spot on the horizon, as far as I can see, is that Clegg isn't the best at keeping promises.
Still, it's been a good couple of days for our man. Long may they continue.
4 comments:
I can understand you cheering for Philip Davies, as he seems to share the same views as you on the regulation of tobacco and alcohol.
However I don't think he can be considered a libertarian in his broader outlook. The comments he’s made regarding decriminalisation of personal use, punishments for drug dealers, and preventing overdoses all show he thinks the state should use the criminal law to prevent drug use, so long as those drugs aren't alcohol and tobacco.
He also supports the use of capital punishment, which to me is the ultimate example of illegitimate state force against individuals (no matter how abhorrent their actions).
I'm liberal, not libertarian, so I do see a place for sensible regulation of addictive drugs. I enjoy your blog as you regularly show how senseless those who call for regulation can be. But I can't support your choice of Philip Davies as any form of libertarian hero.
Libertarian or not, he seems possessed of common sense, which is a thing of astonishing rarity in Parliament.
Fair comment, Duncan. So worth my offering an explanation. :)
There are many things I disagree with Davies about, some of them you have mentioned, but I don't believe there is a single 'libertarian' MP in the house who could be appropriate as the mascot here.
In one of my rare outings outside where my business is, I met a couple of Tory MPs who claimed to be libertarian last year in Birmingham. They were great chaps but didn't speak out in the house too much as I subsequently learned.
Davies does, regularly. As such, the best of a bad bunch is a non-smoking teetotaller who is still vociferous in his defence of the kind of things we talk about here. That speaks volumes to me and is an ethos that is central to this blog.
If it helps, I'd be just as supportive if he were a Lib Dem (in fact, I'd love to see just ONE LD try to justify being called 'liberal' in any proper sense of the word).
HTH. :)
Philip Davies is also a strong Eurosceptic and supporter of economic freedoms, who is often prepared to speak out on subjects that others avoid for fear of being labelled politically incorrect. An example of this is suggesting that it may be more beneficial for disabled people to work for less than the minimum wage than to languish on benefits.
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