I'm sorry to see Chris Mullin has decided to stand down from Parliament at the next election. I got to know Chris quite well when I re-published his book A Very British Coup and then also brought it out on DVD. We disagree about a lot, but more honourable man you could not hope to meet. He released a statement which contained a curious phrase: "I have come to the conclusion that my useful life in Parliament is over". I would love to know exactly what he meant by that.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Chris Mullin: A Very British Announcement
I'm sorry to see Chris Mullin has decided to stand down from Parliament at the next election. I got to know Chris quite well when I re-published his book A Very British Coup and then also brought it out on DVD. We disagree about a lot, but more honourable man you could not hope to meet. He released a statement which contained a curious phrase: "I have come to the conclusion that my useful life in Parliament is over". I would love to know exactly what he meant by that.
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21 comments:
Maybe he is leaving 'to spend more time on politics'?
I agree - I met him on a No 57 going through Kennington a few years ago. I introduced myself, told him that I came from Torbay and that we and his constituency were always vying to be the first to declare on election night - and then we chatted for about 30 mins. A really decent guy who has clearly thought through his position.
He was a bad minister though - because he was so principled I suspect!
Good luck Chris.
cos he knows its all over. no labour MP has any 'useful life in parliament' left.
I shall miss seeing him as one of the first MPs to be declared on election night. He always reminds me of Mr. La-di-da Gunner Harris in "It aint Half Hot, Mum".
O/T.
Bryan Gould, CiF, @3:30pm
"Gordon has had to reap what Tony had sown. I was one of those who hoped and believed that Gordon could save the Labour government; that an injection of more recognisable Labour values might restore some faith in a doomed enterprise. But Gordon has been simply overwhelmed by the torrent of disappointments and resentments of erstwhile Labour supporters. His personal qualities or lack of them have become the lightning rod for all those who wanted change but did not get it."
Are they showing him the door? I only ask...
And another one bails out...
David Taylor, MP for Leicestershire North West.
http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/12/81258/0129
It's interesting to see that his website doesn't mention that he is a Labour MP. There is just the odd logo scattered about and a link to the Labour Party website!
www.chrismullinmp.co.uk
He will be of to the EUssr with all the other anti English wankers from foreign lands who Planted themselves in to The northern Counties of England.
Anonymous said...
"It's interesting to see that his website doesn't mention that he is a Labour MP. There is just the odd logo scattered about and a link to the Labour Party website!"
David Cameron's website doesn't mention that he is a Conservative MP.
You forgot to mention the tremendous work he did working for the Birmingham 6, together with Sir John Stokes, a Tory MP, year after year raising the miscarriages of justice, the misbehaviour of the police and forensic scientists and all at a time when it was unfashionable to be speaking up for the Irish let alone for those thought to be terrorists. For that alone he deserves to be remembered. It's no wonder he sees no useful life for himself as a Labour MP when Labour has been responsible for destroying or attacking civil liberties and introducing some of the most authoritarian and illiberal measures we've ever seen. Decent, honest old Labour MPs like him must weep to see what their party has become and what it is doing to our country.
"David Cameron's website doesn't mention that he is a Conservative MP."
What?
www.davidcameronmp.com
There's a great big Conservative party logo in the top right hand corner, and it says this in the first line of the bio:
"...Conservative Member of Parliament for the Witney constituency in West Oxfordshire"
He has only just understood the EU.
Maybe, since he appears to be a decent bloke, he decided that since he's now over 60 and won't ever get to be even a Junior Minister (too honest, and Labour will lose the next election), he might as well have a life that he can enjoy like normal people.
And let's face it, with a nice guaranteed parliamentary pension, he won't have quite the same financial worries that most of the rest of us on retirement.
Certainly enigmatic - useful life?
I suspect (and hope) that he's going to spend more time with his typewriter, or laptop, or whatever it is that writers use these days.
Mullin was always a better journalist than he was a politician, in my view. This didn't stop him being a good parliamentarian, particularly in his former role as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee and also in his relentless campaigning on behalf of the Birmingham Six, but as Adrian Yalland correctly points out, he wasn't a particularly good minister because he was/is so principled!
I think it means that Chris Mullin never actually lived up to being Chris Mullin.
A huge disappointment for everyone.
He lost my respect when he took the ministerial shilling and made some dreadful decisions.
Either he's principled and honourable, or he's not. He knows what collective responsibility means and by agreeing to be a minister and making those decisions he proved he wasn't either.
Sorry, but it's true.
He is a gentleman and I have admired his work as an MP. I emailed him only recently about a radio interview and got a lovely reply within hours. If only they were all like him. He also has a great sense of humour. I hope he has a long and happy retirement.
freedom to prosper
I still have a paperback copy of "A Very British Coup" that I bought in the mid-1980s when working in politics in Washington. Every now and then, I re-read it--and, the caricatures of American conservative politicians notwithstanding (the John Birch Society? Oh, Chris, please!) enjoy it every time. Alas, I don't think that film version lived up to the book, although the very end was quite good.
I am hopeful that, after he leaves Parliament, Mr. Mullin will return to political fiction. Can you imagine how delightful a roman a clef of NuLab's early heady days or of its current season of discontent would be if written by him?
"and won't ever get to be even a Junior Minister"
He's been a junior minister -- twice -- and a Select Committee chairman -- twice.
Another wise man who sees the approaching storm clouds and decided to bolt for safety of a port.
I suppose I shouldn't speak ill of the (politically) dead...but I always thought Chris Mullin was a hard-left Bennite hack and A Very British Coup was just left-wing fantasy. Imagine, Labour are elected on their 1983 manifesto only to be thrawted by the evil forces of international capitalism and the Americans. No wonder Channel 4 loved it so much they turned it into a film.
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