There was very much a ‘back to school’ mentality this week as MPs returned to Westminster. There was much to discuss since we departed in July: the economic crisis, the Beijing Olympics, Party Conference, not to mention reshuffle reaction and gossip.
For me such deliberations would have to wait, for as a member of the Shadow Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) team it was our day at the Dispatch Box and to hold the Ministers to account.
Questions to Ministers must normally be submitted in advance, selected at random by the clerk’s office and produced on the official Order Paper. The questions that come up can therefore be very varied indeed. As Shadow Ministers we can only ask supplementary questions and so must tag on the back of another MP’s submitted question.
However comfortable you may be with public speaking, to address the House from the Dispatch Box always gets the butterflies going. A mere hesitation or fumble and the opposition will pounce without mercy and ruin your moment, so preparation and delivery is all.
As soon as the questions were confirmed for the day just one covered my responsibility of tourism: No. 5, submitted by the less than shy Labour MP Andrew Macklinlay who wanted to know how more Britons might be encouraged to holiday in the UK rather than abroad. For me this was ideal. I had recently learnt that some seaside councils were disbanding their tourism departments and using the savings to chase local government targets for which they are then financially rewarded. Clearly not the best way a to support our tourism industry.
The work then began in earnest. I checked the facts, wrote the script, tightened the language, rehearsed the words and refined the delivery. I was ready. At 2.30pm The Speaker began DCMS questions as usual and all was going well for my big moment. He finally said “Question Number 5, Andrew Mackinlay. Andrew Mackinlay? Not here? Onto Question No. 6.” And just like that my moment had gone!
( 5 comments ) Tags: Parliament, tourism, Westminster
Comment by Simon Staniland on October 7, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Thank you for the insight, after preparing yourself in such a thorough way it must have been disappointing to not have the chance to highlight serious problems facing tourism in the UK.
Comment by Greg Hands MP on October 7, 2008 at 6:07 pm
This is a very good post – and gets across the fact that despite the appearance of “order”, Parliament can often be pretty random place..
Comment by Fiona D-P on October 7, 2008 at 6:37 pm
”A mere hesitation or fumble and the opposition will pounce without mercy and ruin your moment, so preparation and delivery is all”
Its infantile behaviour
The sort of thing you would expect from children not intelligent adults and it doesnt really benefit our country
Comment by Philip Bartle on October 7, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Given the time and effort which is wasted when an MP is not present to deliver his/her question (as in this example), does it dis-qualify the MP from having further questions to Ministers selected for discussion in the House?
Philip Bartle
Comment by LarryDavid on October 7, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I recently read an account of how Paddy Ashdown was often drowned out by Labour MPs (usually led by the Beast of Bolsover) due to his unfortunate habit of leaving pauses when speaking in Parliament. It’s a great shame that speakers can’t be given the time they need to get their point across – but in this case it’s a shame Tobias didn’t get a chance to speak at all! Better luck next time…