1st May 2022

Is it time Westminster changes the way it effects government proceedings? The nation is constantly bombarded with news about the personal faux pas of its MPs. It’s a soap opera, each episode more salacious than the last. As each new revelation appears, news reports resemble the worst of the tabloid press. From inappropriate sexual advances of MPs to pornography, it never stops. Clearly, men are the same everywhere. I can think of no other country, though, where elected members are so constantly watched with zoom lenses, and their parliamentary discussions broadcast to the nation in every, fly-on-the-wall detail. I saw nothing like it in France. It’s then exacerbated by whichever Party is in opposition at the time.  Their whole existence is defined by finding, revealing, then promoting such findings about the government in order to push their own cause - that of winning the next election for themselves.  And our media colludes in all this, making us a laughing stock around the world. So, what to do? Stop broadcasting PM’s Question Time altogether, and conduct all government discussions in private. Any personal illegal misdemeanours by MPs should be dealt with, in private, by a disciplinary panel. The role of any government is to look outwards and devise laws to help its citizens, not to constantly look inwards at itself.