Darlington Churches Together have sent me a lengthy document posing a wide range of moral and political questions, the answers to which will be published on-line for all to see.
This is an excellent initiative. Their preamble states, "We believe that our elected representative should be a man or woman of integrity, who is accessible and passionate about Darlington, whose judgment is shaped on the basis of principle not by the party whip, and who can be trusted to remain true to principle".
Presumably they didn't insist on this from Alan Milburn MP five years ago.
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4 comments:
So just to get it straight Mike, you won't abide by a party whip (including three line whips) if elected ?
Interesting comment about Alan Milburn. What makes you think he wasn't challenged by the local clergy then, over each general election period ? Assuming you weren't living here then and took no interest in the elections of course.
I'm assuming the above comment was written by someone unable to see the irony in Mike's comment about Milburn.
I think the point was that Mr Milburn doesn't have much in the way of principles or accessibility and has shown very little passion for his 'hometown'.
I could be wrong though.
Second anonymous poster: you are quite right, both about the irony in my post and Milburn's performance as our MP !
First anonymous poster: sadly, over the past 26 years I have been represented in this town by MPs from both the other parties who cared more about their careers than this town.
I'm not sure on what you're basing your comment about party whips. I don't see why being an effecive and diligent constituency MP and having a strong moral basis to my political activities is necessarily compromised by acceptance of a party whip.
I am a Liberal and my party's position on most matters would be one with which I would normally agree. On matters of conscience or constituency interest there is a tradition of flexibility in our party.
Mike
Great to see a candidate for Darlington who not only lives in the town but who has the essential quality of personal integrity. I'm delighted that you describe your political activities as having a strong moral basis. I look forward to your responses to the Darlington Churches election document. For the first time I might well be voting Lib Dem. Best wishes for the campaign. David
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