Dorset Eye’s Ten By Six programme invited Simon Hoare, MP for North Dorset, on to their show to ask him about why he voted against the government when most of his colleagues complied with the three line whip handed down by the government.
He very eloquently explained his position but the viewers must decide for themselves as to the integrity of his fellow Conservative MP’s who merely towed the line and inflicted great damage to the longer term reputaion of the party and more broadly parliament.
During the discussion, we raised one of the most important issues concerning Parliamentary democracy, conflicts of interests, vested interests and corruption. At all political levels up to Parliament, politicians (Councillors) must declare any relevant potential conflicts of interest and generally then not participate in debates and not vote. In Parliament, all MPs need to do is to ‘refer the Speaker to the Register of Members’ Interests’ and then they can continue to debate the topic and even vote, even if there is a clear conflict of interest!
This strikes at the heart of our, albeit tenuous, Parliamentary democracy. Are MPs voting in the interests of their constituents or in the interests of private companies for whom they work or even in their own financial interest?
We received a very surprising response from Mr Hoare! Could this be the start of Parliament cleaning up it’s act? We hope so but, at the same time, we won’t hold our breath!
You can view the full Register of Members’ Interests here: https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests/
Perhaps more usefully, you can view the voting record and Register of Interests for each individual MP here: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Following the interview above Tom Lane and Jason Cridland at Ten By Six have responded to some of the points Simon made. In particular his lack of understanding about the state of the private rented sector holistically and his rush to be disparaging about the ‘left’ without have an understanding of the economic modelling supported and/or practiced by his own government.
It is worth noting that MP’s across the country and either in or close to Dorset appeared to have put their own interests above their constituents.
Here are some examples of local ones:
Conor Burns MP
Richard Drax MP
Marcus Fysh MP
If you have evidence of corruption… about your MP let us know.
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