Ken Follett asked on Sunday, ‘Do you have to be mad to work for the Mail?’ He was commented on a mail writers claim that Rolling Stone Keith Richards has killed more people that the Iraq war. Today another Mail scribbler dribbled poison at Speaker Berkow. It was empty mindless venom.
He is the best of the four Speakers I have known in my time here. He has a phenomenal memory and frequently tells MPs how long they have been members of the House. He took me by surprise yesterday by being word perfect in naming the full title a book I published in 1997. That’s impressive.
Paul Flynn (Newport West, Labour)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I think it is time that we investigated the appallingly vacuous answers that we are having to parliamentary questions. They are the worst answers I can remember in 23 years in this House. I will give just one example from last Wednesday, when I asked a question on the number of desertions from the Afghan army and police. That is a matter of great importance for our soldiers in Afghanistan, because our whole exit strategy is based on a strong army. The answer that appeared made no reference whatsoever to the substance of the question asked. This is becoming increasingly common. The Government seem to be systematically leaking on a more incontinent basis than any other previous Government, and they are not answering questions; they are now treating this Parliament with disrespect.
John Bercow (Speaker)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. Lest others who listen to our proceedings are not aware of it, I can remind them, or inform them for the first time, that the hon. Gentleman is the author of a well-thumbed tome entitled "Commons Knowledge: How to be a Backbencher". Over the years, he and I have both tabled very large numbers of questions, but I have to say to him, with some relief, that I have never been responsible for the content or quality of the answers under successive Governments.
The hon. Gentleman makes a serious point, but it is not one, as I think he knows, on which I can rule. What I will say to him is twofold. First, the Leader of the House is sitting on the Treasury Bench and will have heard very clearly the plaintive representation that he has made. Secondly, as an inquiry is currently being conducted, or is shortly to be conducted, into the subject of parliamentary questions and ministerial answers under the auspices of the Procedure Committee, if memory serves me correctly, the hon. Gentleman, with his vast experience and many examples, might wish to submit evidence to that Committee. I think that that would be useful.
Widdi-woe
It was the Mail that lifted this story from this blog without attribution:
Left-wing Labour MP Paul Flynn, an office neighbour of Ann Widdecombe at Westminster when she was a Tory MP, says she was 'a brave, gutsy politician' but he laments her appearance on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.
He points out: 'She lacks physical grace - she walks with a list to starboard and an uncertain gait.'
Worse, he thinks the BBC only put her on the programme 'to be mocked'. He pleads with Miss Widdecombe, 62: 'Don't risk it. Throw a sickie for the next 12 weeks. Write another book. Enter a nunnery. Become a shock jock. Anything but dancing.
'Otherwise, your admirers will share your pain.'
It's all as embarrassing as I expected. She is being mocked and patronised. But, amazingly, she appears to be enjoying it. How long can it continue? She could win. The public would prefer to laugh at Ann than admire the real dancers.
To think, she could have been the Speaker.
Cleansing Truth
Tomorrow's Guardian has the following story. It is intertwined with the 22 PQs I tabled in the Commons and highlighted on this blog three days ago.
The conduct of three British military units in Afghanistan came under serious question tonight after the Ministry of Defence released unprecedented details of incidents in which troops attacked Afghan civilians.
The disclosure, in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act made by the Guardian, revealed that of the casualties caused by British forces, two-thirds involved troops from the three units, triggering calls for an inquiry into their behaviour.
Releasing information about 21 incidents, the MoD revealed that the Coldstream Guards shot four civilians in Kabul over a period of three weeks; the Royal Marine commandos killed or wounded civilians eight times in six months; and the third unit, the Rifles, were involved in three incidents last year.
Among the casualties were children, and on one occasion a man with mental health problems.
Details of the attacks were not released at the time, but they were among thousands of incidents mentioned in US army logs posted by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks in the summer. Today's release came after the Guardian pressed for more details of those cases.
One cluster of incidents involved the Coldstream Guards in Kabul in autumn 2007. On 21 October, they killed one individual and wounded two others in a silver minibus while on patrol in Kabul.
The MoD says the minibus failed to stop when the soldiers signalled for it to do so, and the guardsmen shot at it.
In another incident, on 6 November 2007, the son of an Afghan general was killed. He was driving a Toyota car and was said to have accelerated towards a Coldstream Guards patrol. The soldiers could only shout a warning before shooting at the car; it skidded to a halt and the man fell out, the MoD said.
The Coldstream Guards' unofficial blog described the mood within the detachment at the time: "The overriding threat is that of suicide bombers, of which there have been a number in the recent past."
The second cluster of civilian casualties involved the Royal Marines, who were stationed in Helmand province.
On 19 November 2008 they shot dead a child in a white Toyota which they believed was driving towards them. "There had been a report of a suicide bomber in the area," said the MoD.
On 4 December 2008, marines wounded a man who had been "trying to locate his family as they had moved compounds". The marines thought he had been tracking them, the MoD says.
That month, a 12-year-old boy was wounded when a van sped towards a Royal Marines patrol and "failed to stop after verbal warnings were given".
On 19 January 2009, two children were injured "in their abdomens by shrapnel" after missiles were fired from above by unmanned drones. The Royal Marines had called for the air strikes, fearing they were being threatened by Taliban insurgents.
A few days later, the marines shot a man and a child after they believed two men were "reporting their progress" in order to prepare a bomb attack.
A mentally ill man was shot in the last incident, on 26 March 2009. The marines had received a report of a bomb threat when a man on a motorcycle "approached the patrol driving slowly and observing them". He disappeared after warning shots were fired. But he soon returned. The marines thought he was an "imminent threat" and shot him, according to the MoD.
The Rifles were involved in three incidents last year, including calling in RAF aircraft whose bomb killed an undisclosed number of civilians in Nad-e-Ali, Helmand last September.
Tonight, Labour MP Paul Flynn called for an inquiry into the conduct of the units in what he said could be "atrocities in the name of the British people". "Truth has a cleansing function," he added.
"But, amazingly, she appaers to be enjoying it. How long can it continue. She could win. The public would prefer to laugh at Ann that admire the real dancers. To think, she could have been the Speaker. "
Isn't it what she thinks that counts? If she's enjoying it, good luck to her. I'm sure she can rise above the bien pensant sneerers.
Posted by: Kay Tie | October 26, 2010 at 08:18 PM
A propos the Mail... how is your current book doing ? How many copies have you sold so far ?
Posted by: Reg Turnbull | October 26, 2010 at 08:37 PM
No ideas on book sales, Reg Turnbull. It won't be big but it has been read by the people that I wanted to read it. All royalties for all my books and other additional income goes to charities so that I can concentrate on my main job.
Lastnight I had an evening meal with half a dozen MPs. 2 are new MPs who I have not met before. Both had read my book about How to be a backbencher. Their comments were ample reward for the efforttaken in writing the book. On that one too, I have no idea onsalse and I have not
heard from the publishers far at least a decade.
Posted by: Paul Flynn | October 27, 2010 at 10:51 AM