Respect for Those who deserve It

I’m sure we can all think of times when we’ve been angry or stressed and said things that we didn’t mean and later regret. It’s just something that happens sometimes. However when you’re in a position of authority saying those things can land you in a whole heap of trouble, as demonstrated in the House of Commons on Monday. .

During urgent questions to the Prime Minister regarding the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his actions during the BSkyB bid, the Labour MP for Bolsover, Dennis Skinner, asked why Mr Hunt was receiving “better employment rights than most of the workers in Britain” and implied that he was being used as human shield by the PM. In response Mr Cameron told Mr Skinner - who is eighty years old and has been an MP since 1970 - that he was “free to take his pension at any time” and advised him to do so.

Now, whatever one thinks of the ‘Beast of Bolsover’ who is at times as close to Communist as it’s possible to be without joining the Communist Party of Great Britain and has been best described as a “hard left oddball,” he deserves more respect than that from a fellow MP, and certainly from the Prime Minister. Mr Skinner has been an MP for forty two years – which means he has been around for about as long as the Prime Minster has been alive – and has in that time never missed a sitting of Parliament, arguing that while he was a miner, “if you missed a shift at the pit you’d get the sack” and that his job as an MP deserves the same commitment.

He has never claimed on expenses, has never sought high office within the Labour Party - though he has been both Chairman and sat on the Party Executive - and most importantly has had a life outside of the Westminster Beltway. He is a rare example of an MP who believes in actually representing the people who have elected him and in holding those in authority to account. He deserves respect for that at least, if not for his age.

If the Prime Minister is really determined to move the Tories away from their reputation as the nasty party he needs to stop making comments like this. It’s especially odd as the Conservative Party have a commitment towards “conservative values,” which one would assume includes respect for their elders.

Mr Skinner is tough enough to shake this episode off, but Mr Cameron is already getting flack for it from other members of the Opposition and while I know he won’t, I can only hope that next time he is in the House he will apologise for what is at the end of the day, utterly disgraceful behaviour.