Rt Hon Dr Denis MacShane

Labour Party | Rotherham

Appeal not to rob MPs of their right to write and speak as they wish

01 July 2009

Rotherham MP Denis MacShane is one of the few Labour MPs taking an active part in the debate on the new Parliamentary Standards bill which sets up a powerful new control body (The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority or as MacShane calls it "The Council of Guardians") and individuals to oversee what MPs can do. While new rules on expenses are needed, the Bill, in MacShane's view, goes much further with the potential to rob MPs of their right to be independent thinkers and actors in public life. This may suit party leaders who want followers and supporters. It may also suit those who believe an MP should be rooted exclusively in constituency work with little other time to read, write, and reflect on wider problems at home and abroad. Below is MacShane's speech from the Commons, 30th June 2009. Naturally there were no reporters in the Commons press gallery for this debate. MacShane declined to vote in the Government lobby as a personal protest at the hurried, ill-considered nature of this legislation.

Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab): I want to place on record my concerns, some of which mirror those that Opposition Members have expressed, about the creation of the Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations and providing for it in the Bill. The public think that it is to do with stopping the scandals about expenses, which have caused so much concern. Instead, we are creating something that has a slightly Cromwellian air. Cromwell was keen on commissioners in place of Members of Parliament. A Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations sounds rather sinister. What exactly will that person investigate?

If we combine the earlier aspects of the Bill with the new rule book that has just been presented to us, it will be jolly hard for any Member of Parliament to write a book again. Those who consider doing that will have to log all the hours they spend thinking about, preparing and writing the book. When such matters are reported to the new IPSA, or "Guardian Council" as I prefer to call it, constituents will ask, "What on earth is this man doing writing a book? He should be in the constituency working on all our cases. We need a parliamentary investigation. Oh good, we have a Commission for Parliamentary Investigations. Let's get him on the job." I exaggerate slightly.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, who is a much better, more honest and keener parliamentarian than I will ever be—I know from working with him as a Minister how seriously he takes the House—is trying to get something on to the statute book in response to one of the periodical "fits of morality", to quote Lord Macaulay, through which our nation is going.

I ask my right hon. Friend to ascertain whether the old expression "festina lente" applies. In my 15 years as a Labour Member of Parliament, who would like an elected second House, I never thought that I would say, as I say tonight, that I hope that the other place takes time and considers the matter carefully. The concern is cross party—many of us are talking about the matter in the Tea Room and in the corridors. That includes those who are not present because we have many other unfortunate and pressing issues to tackle. For example, I have to deal with massive steel redundancies in my constituency.

I speak simply out of deep concern that we are legislating in haste and without clarity, and creating an incredibly powerful office that can interfere substantially with what Members of Parliament do. Members of Parliament can be eccentric—I note that the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Mr. Galloway), who was once a great supporter of Saddam Hussein, now supports, according to reports that I have read, President Ahmadinejad and is acting as his spokesman in Britain.

The Chairman: Order. The right hon. Gentleman must take care when criticising another hon. Member, certainly when it is done without notice.

Mr. MacShane: I was simply reporting what the website said. If it is a criticism, let the cap fit.
In the House, we have always had our eccentrics—people who are isolated in their party and from public opinion. However, they were always protected by the invincible shield of having been elected by their constituents in a free vote in a specific locality. Nothing could take that away from them.

Sir Patrick Cormack: Churchill.

Mr. MacShane: Indeed. At the beginning of 1939, the Conservative party actively tried to deselect Churchill. Winston Churchill had to conduct a surgery; he had to go to his constituency and find out where Chingford or Chigwell—whatever it is called—was.

Mr. Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green) (Con): Chingford.

Mr. MacShane: I apologise to the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr. Duncan Smith).

30 Jun 2009 : Column 212
Mr. Leigh: Winston Churchill's private and business affairs were extremely shady in the 1930s, and he would certainly have fallen foul of the new commission.

The Chairman: Order. We should try to return the debate to the narrow confines of the schedule.

Mr. MacShane: Under the new rules, not only in the Bill, but in the Green Book that has been waved around, the notion that anybody could find time to write a book while serving as a Member of Parliament has gone out of the window. I do not know whether that is healthy. Many of us feel that we should spend more time reading books; one or two of us are mad enough to try to write one, but there will be little time to do that under the new proposals.

I appreciate that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is trying to get things right and I accept that he is sincere. He is a great parliamentarian—one day, he may even become a Back Bencher again, though that is difficult to imagine. He would be a good Back Bencher and, if he were to become one, he would not want to be hobbled by the Cromwellian commissioner that he proposes.