Reading this column last week, it must have felt as though I was detached from all that was happening in Westminster. Drafts for the Newton News Parliament Talk Column are prepared on Sunday and submitted on Tuesday just as last week’s events were gathering pace. I’m sure you all saw on Tuesday of last week both the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Health resigned and over the course of Wednesday were followed by a number of other Ministers. This left the Prime Minister in an untenable position leading to his resignation on Thursday.
The catalyst for this dramatic turn of events was the dismissal of the Deputy Chief Whip on Monday. Just to digress for a second, Whips are MPs or members of the House of Lords appointed by each party to inform and organise their own members in Parliament. It is the Deputy Chief Whip who works directly with MPs on both discipline and welfare, which made the transgressions that led to him being sacked even more galling.
As Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has dealt with the big issues like Brexit, Covid 19 and Ukraine probably better than anyone else could have and I had confidence he could have continued to deliver on other commitments as we went forward. Unfortunately, other issues, like the dismissal of the Deputy Chief Whip, have not been dealt with competently and have led to him losing the confidence of too many of his team.
The speed with which events happened were breath-taking. At times it felt like I was stood in the middle of a whirlwind. I was aware that it was not only Ministers but some PPSs that were resigning their roles. I was recently appointed as a PPS in DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). The role of a PPS includes assisting Ministers in the Chamber and in Bill Committees with legislation. As DEFRA had activity in both Bill Committees and in the Chamber last week, I did not consider resigning my role. My primary responsibility is to help the Government deliver the legislation we put forward in the manifesto that I was elected by you to deliver.
As a result of those that did resign from posts a significant number of people were appointed or shuffled and I am now a PPS in HM Treasury instead of DEFRA, at least for the next couple of weeks to recess anyway. I am sure after the new leader is in place there will be another shuffle.
After returning from Westminster on Thursday night I attended a meeting of the Conservative Association. I am delighted to say that I have been confirmed as the Conservative candidate for Sedgefield, if and when, any election is called on the current boundaries. In theory this could be anytime up until January 2025.
On Friday I had a number of meetings in the Aycliffe office as well as a trip to Thornley to visit the Little House of Hope which is very inspirational. On Saturday I called at Newton Aycliffe town centre to see the fantastic range of sporting groups available either in, or local to, Newton Aycliffe before then going to the Four Villages Fair at Low Coniscliffe.
Moving onto the leadership discussion. The process has been confirmed by the 1922 Committee and Conservative MPs will vote to reduce the number of candidates down to two and then members of the Conservative Party will decide between them. Whilst some colleagues have come out quickly in support of their choice, I do not know enough about all of them to do this, so until I have had chance to listen to each of them, I will hold my decision.
While the leadership contest runs its course, we have legislation to deliver and this week that includes the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy Bill; the Online Safety Bill and the Committee stages of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. On Monday I am on a visit with the BEIS Select Committee to Newport as part of our enquiry into the semiconductor industry and then on Tuesday the Select Committee will have a one-off session aimed at scrutinising the work of the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) and the adequacy of the legislation governing the relationship between tied tenants and the pub companies (pub owning businesses).
I anticipate returning north on Wednesday and being back in the constituency on Thursday before on Friday meeting some of the Sedgefield farmers and the NFU at the Great Yorkshire show and hopefully returning in time to see Durham Brass in Newton Aycliffe on Friday night.
If you need help or have any questions for me, as always, please get in touch. You can contact me by email at paul.howell.mp@parliament.uk or call on 01325 790580.
Paul Howell
Member of Parliament for Sedgefield