Margaret Moran - A curse on all your houses!

On Monday my first task will be to telephone my MP's office to make an appointment to see her next time she deigns to visit her constituency. Now, even if she is in the town I reckon my chances of an appointment are pretty slim. I have a friend who has been trying for ages to get an appointment to discuss asylum seekers and finds she is never available.

But I will try, after all.......I do have something in common with Ms Moran - we are both "women of a certain age" born in the same year, but clearly not with the same mindset. Frankly - if she "needs a family life" maybe she should do what most ordinary people do - either move her employment or ask her partner to do so. Her shrill mealymouthed explanation of why she can flip all over the place is frankly sickening. She was elected to represent the people of Luton South - I really cannot understand how she can possibly do that whilst living 100 miles away.......or maybe I am missing something???????

Those of us who aspire to political office have to accept it comes at a price. It doesn't mean you can't have a family life, nor should it, but it means you have to be prepared for adjustments that mean you just can't have your cake and eat it. Politicians - I thought - were supposed to serve the people - being their representative, advocate, a voice for the voiceless, committed to making life better for the many not the few.

So - I want to go and have a chat with Ms Moran, I would like an honest explanation of her behaviour - woman to woman. What sticks in my gullet is the fact that she wouldn't have been there if other women hadn't been prepared to be imprisoned and died for the privilege. She is the embodiment of everything that makes me sick. She has not only sullied her own name, but mine too. While I have devoted most of my adult life to trying to make life better for my fellow citizens, she has totally undermined my efforts by her cynical exploitation of her position. When I knock on doors at the moment and meet those who are too disillusioned to vote or worse, those planning to vote BNP, it is her and those of her ilk I blame. Now, this is not to deny that she has done a lot of work campaigning on domestic violence, I appreciate that, but please Margaret - does the word integrity mean nothing to you? Frankly, your pathetic explanation for your totally inexcusable behaviour is astounding. If you want to salvage any vestige of that elusive quality integrity you should go - and go now.

Margaret Moran MP - make the most of it.........

This morning I boarded the train at Leagrave - a little further North than Luton but not as far North as the arctic wastes of Bedford. Door to door when I travelled to 25 The North Colonnade from Bedford it was 61.1 miles..........now door to door, having moved to Luton, it is 40 miles exactly (courtesy of AA Route finder!).

Occasionally I stay over in London with friends in North London - then it takes me exactly the same time to get to work despite being 34 miles closer! Now, courtesy of AA Route finder, I discover that if my journey took me to Westminster instead of Canary Wharf, it would be 5 miles less - a mere 35 miles! The fast train from Luton is only 23 minutes, even faster on a good day when it is the right kind of leaves and snow........on such a good day it is possible for me to get door to door in 1 hour and 8 minutes - that means an hour was I to be heading for Westminster.

Now, I am well aware that our hardpressed MPs do occasionally find themselves sitting late in Westminster. I do sympathise, I occasionally find myself sitting late in Westminster, (usually in a local hostelry after FPC ;-)) but unless ridiculously late, I manage to jump on a late night train back to Luton and hop into a cab. Sometimes I have been known to arrive home at 2.30 and leave to return 5 hours later..........But, I agree, not a good idea. And if I am working I am well within my rights to expect my employer to pay for me to stay over in a hotel. As Kelvin Hopkins apparently does, as his fellow Luton MP clearly does not.

So....hat tip to Duncan Borrowman for picking this story up. Having stood against Kelvin Hopkins in the 2005 elections, I know him to be a man of integrity. I may not agree with him on everything, but as I said to the people of Luton North on the night of the elections, they may not have elected a Lib Dem, but they got the next best thing given his record of joining us in the lobbies! Margaret Moran, it appears, is a totally different kettle of fish. She is now my MP and I have already discovered how reluctant she is to engage with us unwashed masses of Luton South. She appears to be universally despised - even my apolitical mum hasn't a good word to say for her. I experienced for myself her obsession with the photo opportunity. Arriving late for the photo call with Operation Black Vote in the last election she was furious that the filming/photos had taken place without her. Clearly her interest was in image and spin, no evidence of any commitment whatsoever to listening to the concerns of the BME community.

So, I was not surprised to hear that she was unable to manage the short train journey from Luton to Westminster - perhaps that is because she spends so little time in Luton, who knows. Some time in the next 15 months we will have an opportunity to show erstwhile Blair babe Ms Moran what the people of Luton South make of her cavalier and self serving attitude.