Quote of the day 28th May 2024

A thread on X, formerly Twitter, from Conservative Home's Paul Goodman (who was MP for Wycombe 2001-2020) 

MP retirements. A thread. 

1) It’s claimed that Conservative MPs are quitting the Commons rather than lose their seats on July 4.  In some cases, this is true.  But it’s not the whole truth. Or even the most important part of it.  After all …

2) …At least 27 Labour MPs are also quitting. Five of these retirements were announced yesterday - 

@KevinBrennanMP @KeeleyMP @spellar @ViendraSharma and @JohnCryerMP ….

3) … Which must be borne in mind.  27 is small scale compared to the 80 or so on the Conservative side.  And, certainly, there have been recent big-scale turnover before what are widely seem as fin de siecle elections.  Consider the figures ...

4) 117 MPs stood down in 2020 and 149 in 2010 (boosted in the latter case by “expenses”).  Otherwise, the highest recent total was 2015, in which 90 MPs quit.  (2017 and 2019 were snap elections, at which there tend to be fewer retirements.)

5) However, @instituteforgov notes that “Some MPs’ decisions may also have been prompted by the changes to constituency boundaries ... which have meant they may have faced a reselection battle to find a new constituency”. And says also that …

6) “Many MPs have cited personal reasons for standing down, like mental health struggles or a desire to spend more time with their families.”

7) "Others have been critical of parliament itself. @MhairiBlack, for instance, described Westminster culture as "outdated, sexist and toxic".

8) “@_AndersonStuart said threats against his family had influenced his decision not to seek re-election in Wolverhampton South West…”

9) … And then there is Mike Freer, who said of his decision to retire that “there comes a point when the threats to your personal safety become too much…Since my election as MP in 2010 I have sadly had several serious threats to my personal safety."

10) To be an MP is to be well paid.  They were in the top 3 per cent of earners last time I looked.  But…

11) A Conservative MP who could be a high performing business person or lawyer or banker could earn much more outside the Commons.  Which now effects such people more because…

12) … Of the accumulating restrictions on outside earnings.  @Keir_Starmer's proposed ban on most MPs “second jobs” is a factor in some Conservative retirements.

13) Then, as the Institute of Government says, there are other factors.  Two MPs have been murdered in the last six years.

14) Some MPs such as @Tobias_Ellwood and @Keir_Starmer himself have had their homes targeted for protests.

15) Then there are the MPs who have been stalked.  Or abused.  A man was sentenced for his part in a plot to murder the former MP Rosie Cooper.

16) All this has an effect not only on MPs but, crucially, on their families.  And it’s hard not to believe…

17) … That all this will have an accumulating effect on turnover over time, making the 2015 retirement rate (and higher) more like the norm …

18) …And deterring capable would-be candidates from outside the worlds of local government and Spad-dom."


I think Paul makes a lot of good points there. A certain level of MP retirements from government and opposition alike is healthy for democracy, providing new blood and preventing the commons from getting stale and ossified. But some of the issues which Paul rightly identified as causing MPs to stand down and deterring potential good new candidates from standing - particularly the threats to their homes, families and personal safety, threats which the murder of two MPs and potential attacks to others prove are all too real - are very unhealthy indeed for democracy.



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