Member of Parliament: The Job of a Backbencher PDF
Preview Member of Parliament: The Job of a Backbencher
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT Also by Lisanne Radice REFORMING THE HOUSE OF COMMONS BEATRICE AND SIDNEY WEBB: Fabian Socialists SOCIALISTS IN THE RECESSION (with Giles Radice) Also by Elizabeth Vallance WOMEN OF EUROPE THE STATE, SOCIETY AND SELF-DESTRUCTION WOMEN IN THE HOUSE: A Study of Women MPs Also by Virginia Willis AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: The Unrealistic Goal BRITONS IN BRUSSELS Member of Parliament The Job of a Backbencher LISANNE RADICE Lecturer in Government Brunei University ELIZABETH VALLANCE Head of Department of Political Studies Queen Mary College, London VIRGINIA WILLIS M MACMILLAN PRESS © Lisanne Radice, Elizabeth Vallance and Virginia Willis 1987 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended), or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition 1987 Reprinted 1988 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire. RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Radice, Lisanne Member of Parliament: the job of a backbencher. 1 Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons 2. Legislators-Great Britain I. Title II. Vallance, Elizabeth III. Willis, Virginia 328.41'0731 JN 673 ISBN 978-0-333-44566-2 ISBN 978-1-349-18907-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18907-6 To Giles, lain and Brian Contents Acknowledgements viii List of Abbreviations ix Introduction xi 1 The Role of the Honourable Member 1 2 Getting In 23 3 The Job in Parliament 43 4 A Parliamentary Day 68 5 Pay and Conditions 80 6 The Job outside the House 102 7 Backbench Views of the Job 123 8 A Month in the Life of Four Backbenchers 138 9 Changes 152 Bibliography 172 Index 177 vii Acknowledgements We should like to thank the many members of Parliament who talked to us in the course of our research for this book. We are particularly grateful to the MPs who gave us copies of their diaries - Angela Rumbold, Charles Wardle, Chris Smith, Roger Gale and Archy Kirkwood. Special thanks are due to Austin Mitchell MP, whose research for the All-Party Reform Group is much drawn upon here, Jenny Jeger for allowing us access to her 1974 research interviews, and to Giles Radice MP for his editorial advice. We are indebted to Geoffrey Lock, Jennifer Tanfield and all the staff of the House of Commons Library for their advice and the material they made available to us. Doug Jones of the Computer Centre of Brunei University helped us with the statistical data, Professor Trevor Smith kindly read and commented on early versions of several chapters, Ted Vallance patiently and meticulously compiled the index, and Jean and Bill McGonnigill helped with proof-reading. Finally, thanks to Anne-Marie Maggs, Yvonne South and Claire Gibling for their transcription of tapes and typing of scripts. In spite of all this support, the responsibility for any remaining errors of fact or presentation remains ours. L.R. E.V. v.w. viii List of Abbreviations AGM Annual General Meeting CBI Confederation of British Industry col(s) column(s) DES Department of Education and Science DHSS Department of Health and Social Security EEC European Economic Community HC Deb. House of Commons Debates HMSO Her Majesty's Stationery Office MP Member of Parliament NOP National Opinion Polls ORC Opinion Research Centre plc public limited company pr public relations SOP Social Democratic Party TSRB Top Salaries Review Body TUC Trades Union Congress ix Introduction This is not a book aimed primarily at the parliamentary specialist. It is a book for the interested general reader or student of Parliament who wants to know more about the backbench job in the House of Commons. We do not set out, therefore, to discuss the procedures of the House or the process of legislation, the role of Parliament or the intricacies of constitutional reform. Where these arise, they do so in the context of making clearer the role we seek to describe. We believe that the job of the MP, both in Parliament and in the constituency, has changed considerably in the last ten years as, for example, constituency pressures mounted, the new Select Committees got underway, and the volume of legislation constantly increased. The students of Parliament, for whom we are writing, may also include many MPs who themselves admit to finding it difficult to discover exactly what their job is. As one remarked, 'there ought to be a new boys' induction course: it would have made my first six weeks in the House a lot less miserable'. Another admitted that the balance of the job had been a bit of a surprise to him as he had not known even of the existence of Commons Committees until he got to the House! The confusion is more than a result of simple ignorance of the geography of the Palace of Westminster, or the, sometimes arcane, procedures of the Commons. It is also often a result of the diffuse demands, perhaps not always obviously compatible, of the job itself. The book is largely structured around two themes; the reality of the job of an MP and the job as perceived by the practitioners and others. Three main sources of information have been used: Parliamentary Papers, official reports and secondary sources relating to the work of MPs, either academic studies, or autobiographical/biographical works; a questionnaire sent out by the All-Party Reform Group to Members of Parliament in 1983 which had a 52 per cent response rate; and, finally, interviews with MPs as well as the monthly diaries of four backbenchers. Chapter 1 deals with the public perception of the job of an MP. We argue that, although there is no 'job description' which prescribes the work of a backbencher, no particular qualifications needed, nor a specific daily routine required, nevertheless it is xi
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