Tory members deserve a little more respect from Tory MPs

I debated with John Bercow on this morning's Radio 4 Week in Westminster programme.  The debate was about tax and you can listen again by clicking here at any time over the next seven days.

I admire John in many ways - not least for the role he has played in encouraging our party to champion the world's poorest and most neglected people (especially Darfur) - but his attitude to the rank-and-file Tory membership is disappointing and all too typical of many Conservative MPs.  We grassroots members shouldn't quickly forget that two-thirds of Tory MPs voted to stop us - the members who selected them - from having any direct say in the election of party leader.  In the WiW interview Mr Bercow conceded that he was not preoccupied with the views of Tory members - who accounted for a "tiny" proportion of the electorate.  What matters he said was not what Tory members thought but the people who weren't voting Conservative.  He went on to say that it was vital that Tories did not appear "like a bunch of fire-breathing dragons preaching the mantra -  the moral case for low taxation".  That's a classic case of demonising your opponents without really engaging with their argument.

I have some questions for Mr Bercow about his attitude to Tory members:

• Did you win your Buckinghamshire seat because of your innate qualities or because you stood on the Conservative platform?  Who has kept the Conservative Party alive over the last few years?  Isn't it in large part the members who fundraise, deliver leaflets and help run councils?
• Who is more representative of modern Britain and more in touch with its hopes and fears?  The male-dominated parliamentary party - heavily concentrated in southern and rural Britain and mainly from legal, financial and political backgrounds?  Or is it the rank-and-file party membership?   Although it is older and wealthier than the country at large aren't the grassroots at least exposed to the real world in ways in which MPs with their protected pensions are not?
• Are there any polls that suggest that Tory members have very different views from the voters at large?  Didn't a recent ICM/ Sunday Telegraph poll actually suggest that, if anything, Tory supporters were more inclined to support economic stability over tax cuts than all voters? 

I don't seek to increase tensions between members and parliamentarians -  most of our MPs are excellent representatives of the Conservative cause - but a little more respect for members would be welcome.

Comments

[TomTom]

How you move from Monday Club to Labour-Lite continues to astound me.........one day Bercow will explain his propensity to move between polar extremes without embarrassment

[Sean Fear]

I'm afraid I don't admire John Bercow at all. Why he is still in the Conservative Party is a mystery to me.

[voice from ramsgate]

Perhaps John would like to stand in a more marginal seat?

That way he could spend more time winning over people who weren't voting Conservative.

It must be awfully trying for him having to put up with all the members in Buckingham. Tough draw!

[dizzy]

Did you win your Buckinghamshire seat because of your innate qualities or because you stood on the Conservative platform?
================================

Neither, as a Bucks boy I can tell you now that he won his seat because he had "Conservative" next to his name on the ballot, the platform doesnt matter. Even the Secondary Modern Schools in Bucks have house systems where the houses are named thing such as Burke, Disraeli, Hampden and Gladstone.

Tory is in our blood.

[dizzy]

as an aside I heard the interview and I agree withthe Editor. I was shocked at the way he spoke of the grassroots, although I do get his point.

[Best keep it anon]

I have to agree. I am disgusted by the actions of many of our MPs and their attitudes toordinary members. They should remember that while they were chicken running to better seats in our most difficult years it was we ordinary members who kept the faith, watched as dedicated unpaid councillors lost their seats because of the actions of our MPs and who very often had to deal with the full force of public anger. Did we continue to treat our MPs with respect? Yes. They should remember that!

[Tony Robs]

This is the end.I do not like his attitude to members and tory activists.To put it bluntly this is a parroted version of the official line from Maude ie sod those who vote for us,just go for those who don't--members are trouble.
Bercoe now needs sacking for contempt as he illustrates a part of this party which is wrong.

[Andrew Ian Dodge]

Well at least he is better that lug-nut Tory MP who called Donal Blaney "far-right" for wanting tax cuts last week at 18 Doughty Street. I showed it to a Tory supporting friend and he was incadescent that anyone could be that idiotic.

[Cllr Keith Standring]

John Bercow is sadly like too many Conservative MP's full of his own wind and water. Perhaps if we grassroots Tories laid down our tools, we might just discover how 'wonderful' and 'practical' and 'attractive' were our MP's to the electorate? Bercow and many other Tory MP's embrace autocracy because they know that to support meritocracy would lose them their seats.

Unfortunately, too many of our MP's are sciolists (NOT socialists - please consult your dictionary). According to The Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 'sciolism' means "Assumption of knowledge, conceit based on fancied wisdom.' Ring a bell with some people you know?

[Richard]

Ah yes, John Bercow, the man who wanted us to dump our highly popular immigration policy. Ironic that on a key issue where we were clearly in touch with the voters, Mr Bercow wanted us to give them the finger.

[tapestry]

John Bercow might bear in mind that safe seats are more likely to deselect their MP or candidate than marginals. Kensington & Chelsea is the safest and it threatens its MP's with deselection more regularly than any other. Others should follow suit, and impose their will on MP's who don't represent their views.

Constituents are in fact far too deferential to their MP's by and large. They should be calling them to account, criticising them and threatening their security more regularly. Only then will most MP's remember who they owe their position to. The media has changed the balance of power, but only because Consituents haven't adapted to the new circumstances and reestablished who is the boss.

[tapestry]

For any motion to put to the Constituency members, only a proposer and a seconder is required. Then the Chairman must put the proposal to the meeting. A proposal of praising the MP or criticising him/her is equally fine, and obviously in extreme circumstances, or if the MP doesn't share the views of his Constituents, a proposal for a vote of confidence can be placed. Why do Consituents sit in silence when for example their MP advocates closer links with the EU, when they hold the opposite view? The focus of democratic power should be the Constituency - not Sky News.

[Graham D'Amiral]

If only it were possible to form a government on the votes of members of the conservative party alone, but it isn't so clearly it is very important to preach a little less to the converted and engage much more with those who are yet to be convinced.

Whilst I accept that John Bercow might have expressed this view a little harshly he is surely right not to be pre- occupied with the views of party members.

We have no need to engineer a dispute between MP's and party members, we share the common goal of wanting to see a Conservative government and are prepared to work to achieve that goal.

John Bercow is a terrific MP and whilst not everyone here liked what he had to say, I find his forthright honesty commendable.

[Stuart Raven]

"John Bercow is a terrific MP and whilst not everyone here liked what he had to say, I find his forthright honesty commendable."

Are you one of his constituents, Graham? If not, how would you know whether Bercow is a good MP or not?

Actually, Bercow was a member of the far-right Monday Club who once made the following racist proclamation.

"The strengthening of our national identity demands a programme of assisted repatriation"

Graham, was that an honest or a dishonest statement?

Now Bercow says he's changed his views. I suspect he is simply overcompensating for his previous far-right image in order to curry favour with whoever he now sees as his future political colleagues.

In theory those could be the Cameroons, but I think Bercow queered his pitch with Cameron with some characteristically ill-judged abusive remarks when he was busy promoting Ken Clarke last year.

The fact that he has not yet jumped ship altogether probably tells more about the relative good taste of the Labour Party than it does about him.

[Graham Damiral]

My view of john Bercow's abilities is based on what I've seen of him in parliament, I'm not a constituent of his so obviously can't comment on that part of the job.

I'm interested in what our politicians have to say today not digging up what organisations they might have been involved with 20 years ago. Some Labour cabinet ministers were in their youth members of the communist party, but today we wouldn't say such a far left past makes them unfit for office.

As for the remark about John Bercow's tory credentials a quote from the man himself says it all "I was born a conservative and I will die a conservative"

[Michael Clarke,Chairman Northampton South]

If sitting members had to face a stiff re-selection process before a General Election, I think they would not be so dismissive of their paying Party members views.Too many M.Ps e.g.Robert Jackson, who later told his constituents what a fine job the Blair Government was doing, before jumping ship,are allowed too much leeway by their constituency Associations.
Our newly elected M.P knows precisely who manned the 'phones for 3 years telephone canvassing and worked Saturday after Saturday to put him there.He is uncomfortable with much of the current agenda and keeps in close touch with his members and the electorate.A conviction politician.We need some more, who dont let the culture of Westminster to infect them.

[John Girling]

I am one ex-member who will never vote Tory again while it is under its present leadership, which has completely forgotten that even in the unlikely event of its winning the next election, it will have no power to govern us, because that power now rests with the Commission of the European Union. Many of my friends have similar opinions, but, of course we are white males.

[Gareth]

"I am one ex-member who will never vote Tory again while it is under its present leadership, which has completely forgotten that even in the unlikely event of its winning the next election, it will have no power to govern us, because that power now rests with the Commission of the European Union."

There you go Ed., proof if any were needed that the concerns of many tory members are light years away from those of the average punter.

The most cursory of glances at the postings on this site provides more than enough evidence of similar disengagement with the concerns of the voters and obsession with matters ephemeral.

[Jamie Oliver's Sausage]

Get out of the wrong side of bed this morning, did we Gareth?

So sad that real people and real Conservativs don't always agree with your Eurofanatic opinions, but that's life. Take a look at what Lord Saatchi has to say if you want to hear the views of a REAL Tory.

Get over it.

[Gareth]

It never ceases to amuse me that you assume that, as a 'real' conservative you share the views of what you absurdly call 'real' people (are the rest of us holograms?). Funny that the 'real' people failed to vote for these 'real' conservative policies in 2001 and 2005 don't you think?