Ealing North
| |
|
Steve Pound MP Ealing North |
|
|
Hands off the kids April 2004 Much discussion at the Palace of Westminster on the subject of MPs and where they live. Apparently I am entitled to claim the rent for a bed-sit in central London rather than having to hack home to Hanwell when the full time whistle finally blows. Obviously the main recipients of this allowance are those Members who live in Scotland, South Armagh or St.Austell and cannot reasonably be expected to commute on a daily basis. This once again proves the superiority of living in the suburbs, but it does raise, yet again, the thorny issue of whether an MP should live in the constituency. I’ve always been of the opinion that the advantages of living on the patch vastly outweigh the problems and that an area that is good enough to vote for you should be good enough for you to live in. What does give me pause for thought is the effect that this has on the MP’s children. On the one hand I passionately believe that someone who represents an area should live in it but on the other hand I desperately want to spare my children any of the problems that arise from having a father who occasionally gets into the papers. Sir George Young, who represented part of Ealing North until 1997, used to write a truly superb column in the “Gazette” which was a running commentary on the travails and triumphs of his children – but he and they lived a pretty long way from Ealing. Harry Greenway never lived in Ealing and his children were educated far from the borough and perhaps he may have had the right idea. My Labour predecessor Bill (later Lord) Molloy couldn’t have been prised from Uneeda Drive, Greenford with a crow-bar and advised me strongly to continue to live “on the patch”. For all their lives my children have had a father who was a Councillor, Mayor or MP so they may have become used to it but I know that there will always be some people who either have a pop at me through them or claim that any of their achievements are due to their father’s influence. Someone actually told my son that he had been made captain of his House football team at school because of me! The fact that my fourteen year old is ten times the footballer that ever I was and scored two fine goals for Greenford Celtic last weekend didn’t seem to count. The fact that I am as absurdly proud of him as I am of my daughter shouldn’t blind me to the impact that some people are having on them. Will this always be a problem? My sixteen year old daughter is in “Kiss Me Kate” at the Questors but surely no-one could see this as anything other than the result of her own talent and effort. Sadly there will always be some people have a dig at two decent kids who didn’t choose to have me as their father. I respect the decisions by Sir George Young and Harry Greenway to live away from their constituency but I hope that people who make the decision that I did will not suffer for it. I really don’t care how many people criticise or attack me. That comes with the territory and I may well deserve it. The kids don’t deserve it and I hope that they will be allowed to be their own people and that they will be recognised as two individuals with lives, minds and personalities of their own – not as the MP’s children. I also hope that MPs who live on the patch will soon be the rule, rather than the exception. |
|
|
|
| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed by Bassam Mahfouz. Promoted by Julian Bell, The Labour Party, Ruskin Hall, 16 Church Road, W3 8PP on behalf of Steve Pound MP |
