Nadine Dorries MP: How to reform MPs' expenses

Nadine Dorries is the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire

How can anyone forget the expenses crisis of 2009? It began on the first day of the Euro-elections and ended on the last.  The public went to the ballot booths with anger towards the established political parties burning in their hearts.  Via a court case with IPSA, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the Daily Telegraph has applied for copies of all receipts from IPSA.  Having won the case, IPSA has gone to appeal. It would cost the tax payer £1.5 million to produce the receipts. The Euro elections are a year away. I think we can guess the Telegraph's timetable.

Before anyone jumps to the keyboard crying" ‘What have you thieving scumbags got to hide"? I can say that the answer is: nothing.  Yes, I know that a small number of MPs went to prison and that some had to pay amounts back.  However, any sensible person must realise that any MP who fiddles their expenses would need to be certified following 2009, and I just do not believe it happens.

Nadine Dorries MP: Not a single person in the UK voted Conservative in 2010 because we said we would introduce same-sex marriage

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire. Follow Nadine on Twitter.

I will be voting against the same sex marriage bill tomorrow for a variety of reasons. If I am called to speak I hope to elucidate some of them. Two aspects of the Bill are so important and so compelling, however, I also wanted to write about them here.

• My first concern is that I and many others thought the Bill was intended to make the status of marriage equal for same sex couples (SSC) with regard to heterosexual couples (HSC). The Bill does not achieve this; in fact, it legally patronises SSCs and leaves them unequal in law. I cannot vote for that.
• My second consideration is that I am happy to declare my interest in the grubbier side of politics and state that one of my big concerns is for my party and my colleagues, which is why I am writing this on the ConservativeHome website and not in a national newspaper.

Let’s talk about sex.

Mt first startling observation upon reading the Bill which was produced only a week ago, is that the adultery provision in the Bill is unequal. A gay man/woman is not required to be faithful in the same was as a heterosexual man/woman. The same sex lobby have stated that they want the same rights as heterosexual couples and to be able to enjoy faithful and committed relationships but this Bill does not require them to make any commitment to faithfulness whatsoever in the way straight couples are required to.

A basic legal requirement of The Marriage Act 1973 is for ‘ordinary and complete sex to have taken place’.

Nadine Dorries MP: More tax breaks for carers are needed to help improve childcare provision

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire and a member of the Health Select Committee.

Ben Black from my Family Care has today produced a roundup of what is wrong with Britain’s Childcare Sector. Ben is quite right when he states that Childcare was the central theme of the new Labour Government in 1997. Indeed it was. As the founder and MD of the UK’s leading childcare consultancy at the time ( I sold it to BUPA in 1998 and Ben is the current owner), I can vouch that many of the arguments of today have a strong feeling of déjà vu. We have all been here before.

Ben is also right is his assertion that, frankly, Labour messed it up.

The announcement today of funding to be made available for the extension of childcare places for two year olds is welcome and needed. However, one new aspect of the childcare argument which wasn’t as obvious in 1997 and has become a matter of priority following the summer riots is that, for Governments, childcare is a game of two halves.

There is now an acceptance of early intervention and acknowledgment that society has broken to such an extent that the state needs to intervene. Providing childcare for children from such deprived backgrounds is more about helping those children to develop personal and social skills. Not so long ago I visited a charity which helped some of the worst cases. I learnt that some of the children who arrived at the centre had never held a knife or fork, had no concept of sharing, were insular with little in the way of linguistic ability and to compensate were at the age of three fighting their way to be heard.

Nadine Dorries MP: The social responsibility of care for the elderly should be a priority for governments

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire and a member of the Health Select Committee.

The report published today by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which has found that at least a quarter of a million elderly people receive poor or very poor standards of care within their own home, is distressing to read.

In my surgery I occasionally hear stories of neglect brought to me by relatives or a neighbour often, sadly, after a person has died. The last case involved an elderly lady who refused to move from the house in which she had lived for sixty years to be nearer to her daughter and family and chose to receive home care visits twice a day.

Her daughter noticed after each visit that slowly things went missing. Her mother’s money appeared to be being spent faster than usual. Items of food left in the cupboard quickly went and suspicion was finally raised when a tin of biscuits had completely disappeared. It was the disappearance of the tin which clinched it.

If only theft were the sum total of the problem, however, the situation is far more serious.

Nadine Dorries MP: Why I went to Equatorial Guinea

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire.

During August I led the first British Parliamentary delegation of MPs to Equatorial Guinea which resulted in the report linked to in this article which we have dedicated to the EG children who washed in rivers.

The trip was undertaken with some trepidation.   EG is not known for providing a friendly welcome to foreign visitors.  Foreign press are not allowed entry visas and NGOs are not allowed access to the population.  An attempted coup by Simon Mann in which Mark Thatcher was implicated resulted in the former spending a great deal of time in the notorious Black beach prison.  As the report states, the President is notorious and has a reputation as a cannibal and for being allowed by God to commit murder, without punishment, as referenced in the report.

The MPs were joined by Iain Birrell a freelance journalist who acted ‘undercover’.  Greg Wales, who owns Triarus, the organisation acting on behalf of the EG government, Adrian Yelland a lobbyist who co-ordinated the logistics and a theatre impresario, Giles who was there to appraise the cultural aspects of EG.  The trip was undertaken with the knowledge and encouragement of the foreign office and since our return we have debriefed the Minister.

As reported by Ian Birrell, in last week’s Observer, the last foreign journalist to arrive in EG was allegedly immediately beaten and incarcerated in Black Beach prison.

Nadine Dorries MP: What women want from David Cameron

Nadine Dorries is Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire.

“I’m a woman Mary; I can be as contrary as I choose”.

These words, uttered by Dame Maggie Smith in her role as Granny during Sunday night’s episode of Downton Abbey, are guaranteed to make men weep with despair, especially David Cameron.
Recently there has been a huge amount of speculation in the media regarding women’s voting intentions and attitudes to the Conservative party.

The reality is nowhere near as bleak as the journalists would have us believe. Female support for the Conservative Party is certainly down. However, according to a You Gov survey the number of women intending to vote for the Conservative Party today in comparison to during the general election is down by just one point. The greater dip is in fact with men with a figure of minus three.

The women’s vote is by far the more elusive and has always puzzled the political strategists. It is clear that if we don’t keep women happy they won’t vote for a Conservative majority government in 2015.

In order to understand what women want, you first have to understand women. There is a reason why John Gray’s bestselling book ‘Men are from Mars Women are from Venus’ has sold almost eight million copies. Men and women are different.

Nadine Dorries: We should shut down social media networking sites during a public disturbance

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire and a committee chairman on the Speaker's Panel.

I got caught this morning by the Today programme.

The discussion was with Andrew Lilico, who posted on here yesterday regarding the proposed shutting down of social media networking sites during a public disturbance.

The question on the Today programme was – should we or shouldn’t we?

I think we should.

During 7/7, mobile networks were instantly closed down. As it happens, at the time, I was stood with a Chief Constable and the Duke of York. I remember it well. The precedent to prevent those who present a threat to the safety of civilians from communicating with each other is already set, even though possibly not officially acknowledged by the intelligence services.

Nadine Dorries: Abortion guidelines need to be drawn up by an independent body which is accountable to Parliament

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire and a member of the Health Select Committee.

At the forthcoming stage of the Health and Social Care Bill, in addition to our amendment to provide vulnerable women seeking an abortion advice and counselling, Frank Field and I will be laying down a second amendment.

The second amendment will be to transfer the responsibility for drawing up the clinical guidelines for a woman seeking an induced abortion from the RCOG (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) to NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence).

The reality of the current situation is that, in the absence of any other guidelines being in existence, should a doctor not adhere to those produced by the RCOG he would - in law - be seen to be acting unlawfully.  The Courts would regard the RCOG Guidance as representing the position of respectable medical opinion.

We are concerned with the legality of the procedure used for drafting the guidelines and the make up of the RCOG working group for a number of reasons.

Nadine Dorries MP: Britain’s abortion laws currently leave vulnerable women without the most basic support and help to which they should be entitled

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire and a member of the Health Select Committee.

Following the malicious reporting of Dr Tammy Downes to the General Medical Council for giving pregnant women seeking an abortion advice and support, GPs now adhere very firmly to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines, which have been widely criticised for underplaying the physical and psychological consequences of abortion.

Almost zero counselling is available for any woman presenting at her GP practice with a crisis pregnancy and what little support available is provided by the abortion provider. There is no financial provision for counselling, meaning that private abortion providers have a vested financial interest in women deciding to go ahead with the procedure. This means that women with unplanned pregnancies, who actively seek advice and support in order to help them reach a decision, currently receive little or no counselling.

Face to face post-abortion counselling is only provided if the woman returns to the abortion clinic and very often, it isn’t available at all.

Many women have an abortion without experiencing adverse consequences and that is great for them, however, many do.

The link between abortion and subsequent pre-term delivery, with all its complications and huge associated costs, is now well established. Also, a landmark paper published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2008 has shown that pregnant women who abort are 30% more likely go on to develop mental health problems than those who do not. The Royal College of Psychiatrists now acknowledges research that shows a link between abortion and mental illness and has revised its guidance on the matter and furthermore is currently carrying out a major review of the literature.

Nadine Dorries MP: The state must stop withholding vital information from women considering an abortion

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire and a member of the Health Select Committee.

It is an unfortunate fact that the issue of abortion and women’s sexual health has been paralysed and abandoned on the wasteland between political ideology and religious dogma for a very long time.

Pro-life groups have continually refused to compromise and at times resorted to tactics which have worked so badly against them, that they put their own cause back ten years. A number of years ago, one organisation thought it appropriate to send silicone foetus models in the post to MPs which were opened by female researchers, who were naturally appalled, as were the MPs.

The political pro-choicers have been as bad. So terrified have they been of any threat to a woman’s right to an abortion, that the union-funded pro-choice organisations have suppressed debate and lobbied for industrialised abortion to such a point, that women no longer have any choice whatsoever. I base that comment on the fact that choice can only exist, when information is available upon which to base that choice.

A woman who may be considering an abortion today is not only denied the information she requires in order to make an informed choice, she is in my opinion, via the withholding of crucial information, subjected to State abuse.

Nadine Dorries MP: I hope George Osborne will pledge to cut personal taxation

A script for a film prepared by Nadine Dorries MP for the Daily Politics; broadcasting at 11.30am today.

They say there are two things in this life that you can guarantee: death and taxes. But I think there’s a third and that is that following a sustained period of a Labour Government the country will always find itself in an economic mess.

Thank you Gordon Brown.

And the pain is being felt by every British mother.

When she hears on the radio that fuel and food prices have increased at an alarming rate, she is the least surprised.

She's been feeling the pain for months and was wondering when someone was going to notice. Right now in supermarkets all across the country Mums are putting back onto the shelves treats they would have bought for their children's lunch boxes just a few short months ago. And that hurts.

Naturally, every parent wants to do the very best that they can for their children and not being able to afford to do the things you so want to do for those you love the most, hurts in a way that feels like a dull ache in the pit of every parent's stomach. Where families are taxed at the rate they have been by Gordon Brown they will turn to credit cards or to borrowing against their homes.

A Government worth having: Health policy

In the latest of our 'A Government Worth Having' series we look at health policy.  Top-up payments, patients being able to choose their healthcare commissioner and strong Matron-like figures are just three of the ideas suggested below. We've previously looked at new directions on economic and foreign policy as part of this series.

Simon Chapman: "The next Conservative government will have to face up to the overwhelming pressures that the NHS faces: demographics, dementia, obesity, technological and treatment advances, and rising expectations. These are already upon us and will only increase.  We will spend over £100 million on the NHS next year. That is highly political. At the moment there is no direct democratic accountability. An unelected NHS Board won’t make that better.  Tax funds are already insufficient to meet demand, although there is undoubtedly room for more effective spending. Decisions about priorities and rationing should be brought as close as possible to the people affected by them. Personal budgets (vouchers) and locally elected health boards are the levers. Co-payments are also inevitable.  Health reform must become a first term priority. The public are ready for honesty and candour – certainly more eager than the current Westminster consensus is prepared to allow.  We need to close the gap between health and social care. Joint commissioning and pooling budgets is one way forward. Bringing both under the strategic responsibility of one department is another: how about changing Andrew Lansley’s job title to Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care? Before anyone shouts, I know that Local Authorities are responsible for social care, but they could be made accountable to a different Secretary of State.  Finally, if we want to improve confidence in the NHS, we need to make end of life care more of a priority. Over half of all deaths occur in NHS hospitals, and over half of all complaints about NHS hospitals concern dying and bereavement care. Hospices are often superb, but they cannot provide a complete answer."

Nadine Dorries MP: "I trained in an NHS which was run with consideration and discipline. The first concern of any nurse was to reassure her patient. To be aware that a hospital was a scary place, that we knew most things weren’t going to hurt and would probably be ok, but that the patient didn’t.  As a night nurse I spent many an hour sat on the edge of the bed of a sleepless worried patient, with tea and toast, listening to the dark worries keeping my patient awake. How long will I be off work? Will this affect my life?  I worked on wards which had dedicated ward cleaners and Auxiliary nurses who took pride in their wards and were in silent competition with the cleaner on every other ward in the hospital.  Nurses never wore their uniform outside of the hospital. A plastic apron was donned every time you treated a patient. Hand washing was automatic, cleanliness imbued throughout every aspect of the ward day. Visitors limited in order that a ward could be properly cleaned. There was no MRSA and poorly patients got the rest they needed.  Matron ruled, Doctors trembled, no nurse failed to give anything but her best. Everyone was accountable via a very clear line of command. Everyone knew who was responsible for what and when.  The NHS of today is driven by targets and process, not patients. Sometimes it feels as though patients are an inconvenience, lying in the way of clipboards and men in suits.  We need to make healthcare delivery totally patient focused. By remembering patients are there because they are vulnerable and ill and by giving patients respect and putting them at the top of the NHS agenda, by removing business suits and replacing with caring  uniforms, we may just begin to see a shift of priorities."

Andrew Haldenby, Director of Reform: "The issue of top-up payments for NHS care is waiting to be grasped by Government or Opposition.  This year a series of cases have proved that the existing rules are a classic example of how bureaucratic inflexibility can become cruelty.  Currently Norman Lamb is the only frontbencher spokesman who has argued for change bravely and positively rather than reluctantly.  A majority of patients and doctors are in favour.  Allowing patients to top up would be directly in line with the modern Conservative ideas of social responsibility and the post-bureaucratic age."

Dr Rachel Joyce, our PPC for Harrow West and a former PCT Director: "The NHS internal market failed because the “commissioner” is a poor proxy for the patient. Bureaucratic rules and targets make meaningful clinical and patient involvement in commissioning impossible, leaving managers to make decisions on what services are provided for patients.   “Successful commissioning” in the NHS is judged by performance against targets and rules. Success, in contrast, as judged by a patient is on good clinical outcomes and convenience.  Therefore much of the increase in health spending has been wasted on the administration of targets, resulting in high comparative costs but poor outcomes.  Patients should be able to choose who commissions their care. If GPs could choose their commissioning organisation, then patients could choose their GP practice (and therefore their commissioner) on the basis of outcomes. An independent NHS Board could be responsible for monitoring outcomes and quality via agreed indicators.  Patient choice of commissioner would drive down unnecessary bureaucracy and inefficient care, and would enable the NHS to provide comprehensive care that is not only efficient, but has world-class outcomes. "

Nadine Dorries MP: Action needed on sexual health

Nadine Dorries MP says the next Conservative government needs to address the issue of poor and deteriorating teenage sexual health and behaviour.

Over the last ten years we have witnessed an unrelenting increase in the number of STIs with some of the nasties, such as Syphilis, re-appearing for the first time in over twenty years.

Today's government has neglected teenagers in terms of health spending, in favour of the more politically correct health issues.

Only a government whose first concern is political ideology, over and above the individual could have allowed this situation to develop.

Who can be more needy of health care support than a young person growing up in a new age of socially and sexually liberated confusion?

A new government needs to empower the voluntary sector and assist teenagers to decode the difference between should and shouldn't, right and wrong, do and don't. This can be achieved by removing the hit and miss random delivery of sex education as taught within schools today.

Nadine Dorries MP: Why 20 and not 22 weeks?

Nadine Dorries is MP for Mid Bedfordshire and is author of a popular blog.  She writes today about her cross-party campaign to reduce the upper limit for abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks.

I have 20 reasons why I think the abortion limit should be reduced to 20 weeks.  Viability - the age at which a foetus can survive outside of the womb - is only one of them.

The Trent study that has been in the headlines recently and appears to advocate 22 weeks is flawed. To begin with, some of Trent's data is twelve years old. There is only one lesson to be learnt from the Trent study and that is if you are about to go into premature labour, don’t do it in Trent!

The reason 22 weekers are not always surviving in the UK has everything to do with the fact that each neo natal unit had to close its doors an average 52 times over the last year (National Audit Office, Caring for Vulnerable Babies, The Reorganisation Of Neo Natal Services In England, 19th December 2007, pg 24 Para. 3.3). The units are understaffed, and as Bliss say, if we had dedicated neo natal transfer ambulances and well-staffed units - as they do in Sweden and other countries - we would begin to see a much healthier picture.

It's about the service the NHS provides to 22 weekers which prevents them from living, not their ability with the right treatment to make it through.

Nadine Dorries MP: Take a sad song and make it better

Nadine Dorries MP - first elected last year to represent Mid Bedfordshire - reflects on last week's decision to  establish a single Liverpool-wide Conservative Association.

On the hottest night since records began, in an airless upstairs room of a Liverpool Conservative club, Chris Grayling, Shadow Minister for Transport, and I faced the assembled members of five Liverpool Conservative associations. It was the end of the road, and everyone in the room, almost, knew it.

The end was relatively painless really. You simply couldn’t argue with the facts. Liverpool doesn’t have a single Conservative councillor or MP. Yet in the room with us, observing through silent eyes, hung a portrait of the assembled Liverpool City Council of 1955, every single one a Conservative.

There were eight Conservative Liverpool MPs at that time. One thing I don’t think Mrs Thatcher ever really understood was that to have one you need the other. Local and national politics are inextricably bound together in a subtle and complex way which demands respect. We forgot that in the late 80s and early 90s.

Note to Shadow Cabinet – never forget the mistakes of the past.

Some of the activists sat before us had ‘worked their patch’ for fifty or more years. Dedicated and loyal, we were asking them to vote to dissolve their own associations so that we, from the centre, could establish a new, single, city of Liverpool association.

If they chose not to agree they would be placed into supported status. There’s no easy way to say that to a group of hard working proud Liverpudlians; I know, I’m a native.

Chris addressed the audience and did the difficult stuff. He knew exactly what his objectives were and how to achieve them. What was needed was a speech worthy of Ghandi with a touch of Robespierre. He handled the situation with tact and skill. An iron hand in a velvet glove.

Whilst what Chris had said sank in, I took over and explained why I, one of their own, someone who had grown up 500 yds from where we were sitting, was the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, over 150 miles away.

They looked hurt, except for the three CF members, sat in the middle, periodically checking their mobile phones, of course to them it made perfect sense.

I simply couldn’t have stood for a Liverpool seat. I wanted to be an MP so badly it consumed me. I had waited until two successful careers, one in nursing and another in business were under my belt and raised my three daughters before I began to apply for seats. Not to become an MP was simply not an option – I had waited too long.