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Why I grew up hating Tories—Sir Anthony Steen
Ever thought about the influence geography has on the way you vote? You probably ought to, it's had a massive effect on me. Y'see, I grew up in the 80s and did my GCSEs and A Levels in the 90s. that's under Thatcher and Major. But that's not the main reason I distrust the Conservative party, nor the main reason I hate the Tories[1]. That can be explained by a very simple statement.
Anthony Steen was my MP. He's still the MP for my parents, both surviving grandparents, two aunts and four cousins. Yes, that Anthony Steen. For a very very simple reason to hate the git[2], have a listen to this[3]:
In February 2007, he said that people have to accept post offices should close as they weren't providing a service that's wanted. Bear in mind that he represents a very rural constituency, one of the largest English seats geographically, and that a lot of services post offices used to provide were withdrawn by the Govt. He sort of had a point, but made it so badly it was funny.
In June 2007, Mr Steen was fined for leaving his car in a disabled bay at Newton Abbot railway station. The Totnes MP said there was an "absurd number of handicapped spaces" and national regulations should be changed. I had a fairly thorough look through Hansard on this. Number of times I can find Steen raising this as an issue before he was caught? ZERO. Specifically, he was parked at Newton Abbot train station, where I happen to know there is lots of on street parking available within an easy walking distance of the station. He was of course "rushing" to get to Westminster, because it's oh so important to be in attendance at the House of Commons during recess week. Best bit? He was reported to the local media by a concerned citizen, his response?
In February 2008, during the last MPs expenses row, it was revealed that Anthony Steen pays his daughter £5,000 a year for doing half a day’s work a week. Half a day a week? For £5K a year? Nice work if you can get it.
In October 2008, he won £10,000 damages over expenses story from his local newspaper after they slightly misreported his comments regarding expense claims he thought were perfectly legitimate. To be 100% fair to him, under the rules, they were legit expenses. Under the rules. That he'd voted for. Note, the local paper? Owned by the same people that own the Daily Mail. Notably Tory leaning...
In April 2009 (and this is one of my favourites), a school in Paignton was closed as one of the pupils contracted swine flu on the flight home from a holiday in Mexico. Paignton is a town split between two constituencies, his Totnes seat and Adrian's Torbay seat. Have a look at this exchange in the House of Commons. Martin (correctly) calls Adrian first, as he's the constituency MP. There are some interruptions, so Martin says he'll be calling Steen in a bit anyway. After Adrian some Labourite is called, and then Steen, who opens with:
So, there you go. Due to the nature of the first-past-the-post electoral system, if you have a git like that as your MP, if you want to get rid of him, you have to vote for the candidate most likely to beat him. If you get used to voting for that party time and time again because they're the best chance of beating the incumbent git, many people begin to consider themselves supporters specifically of that party.
In 1997, I voted in my first General Election, and specifically voted against Steen. It was a vote for the Lib Dem candidate, but also broadly a vote to get the bastard Tories out and replace them with Blair. I often wonder what, if any, my partisan allegiance would be if I grew up in a part of the world where the Lib Dems were a distant third and Labour were challenging the Tories. Let alone if I'd grown up in a safe Labour area where the Tories had no chance.
One of the stupidities of the UK system is that where you live matters a lot more than who you support. I think it's about time we changed that, how about you?
[1] I try to make a distinction when I can between actual Tories and mere members of the Conservative and Unionist Party of Great Britain, which is after all a broad church coalition between headbanging Cornerstone Tories, patrician One Nation Tories, Liberal Unionists, National Liberals, Whigs, Constitutionalists and Conservatives. Currently led, as far as can be told, by a Constitutionalist Whig with liberal pretensions.
[2] I typed then deleted the word 'bastard' there. Calling him that would be an insult to bastards everywhere. My father was born out of wedlock (technically making me also a bastard but my parents were married), and associating him with Steen any more'n is necessary isn't really fair.
[3] Non-UK based readers might not be able to listen to the embed or hear it on the site, blame some rather silly licensing agreements the BBC has with various employee/producer organisations.
[4] To be completely fair to him, the point he made during his intervention was a good one, but he palpably wanted to make the point Adrian had made and switched to a back up question.
Anthony Steen was my MP. He's still the MP for my parents, both surviving grandparents, two aunts and four cousins. Yes, that Anthony Steen. For a very very simple reason to hate the git[2], have a listen to this[3]:
In February 2007, he said that people have to accept post offices should close as they weren't providing a service that's wanted. Bear in mind that he represents a very rural constituency, one of the largest English seats geographically, and that a lot of services post offices used to provide were withdrawn by the Govt. He sort of had a point, but made it so badly it was funny.
In June 2007, Mr Steen was fined for leaving his car in a disabled bay at Newton Abbot railway station. The Totnes MP said there was an "absurd number of handicapped spaces" and national regulations should be changed. I had a fairly thorough look through Hansard on this. Number of times I can find Steen raising this as an issue before he was caught? ZERO. Specifically, he was parked at Newton Abbot train station, where I happen to know there is lots of on street parking available within an easy walking distance of the station. He was of course "rushing" to get to Westminster, because it's oh so important to be in attendance at the House of Commons during recess week. Best bit? He was reported to the local media by a concerned citizen, his response?
Mr Steen also accused the person who tipped off a local newspaper of being "very sneaky". "There are too many busybodies in this world running around complaining," he said. "There are too many whiners and whingers."
In February 2008, during the last MPs expenses row, it was revealed that Anthony Steen pays his daughter £5,000 a year for doing half a day’s work a week. Half a day a week? For £5K a year? Nice work if you can get it.
In October 2008, he won £10,000 damages over expenses story from his local newspaper after they slightly misreported his comments regarding expense claims he thought were perfectly legitimate. To be 100% fair to him, under the rules, they were legit expenses. Under the rules. That he'd voted for. Note, the local paper? Owned by the same people that own the Daily Mail. Notably Tory leaning...
In April 2009 (and this is one of my favourites), a school in Paignton was closed as one of the pupils contracted swine flu on the flight home from a holiday in Mexico. Paignton is a town split between two constituencies, his Totnes seat and Adrian's Torbay seat. Have a look at this exchange in the House of Commons. Martin (correctly) calls Adrian first, as he's the constituency MP. There are some interruptions, so Martin says he'll be calling Steen in a bit anyway. After Adrian some Labourite is called, and then Steen, who opens with:
The Paignton community college happens to be in my constituencySee? He's annoyed because the girl attends school in his seat and he wanted to be called first, like a petulent schoolboy. Small problem. Ricky Younger-Ross, MP for neighbouring Teignbridge, is called a few minutes later:
If there is any doubt, the upper school is, I believe, in the constituency of Mr. Steen and the lower school in the constituency of my hon. Friend Mr. Sanders, and the child concerned— [Interruption.] The child concerned is in the school in my hon. Friend's constituency.Steen is whinging, but doesn't know the borders of his own constituency. Useless tosser[4] (for the record, the sites are fairly close, the boundary is a bit daft, but an MP is supposed to know his own borders, for him to be corrected by the neighbouring MP unaffected by the spat is a sign of his competence).
So, there you go. Due to the nature of the first-past-the-post electoral system, if you have a git like that as your MP, if you want to get rid of him, you have to vote for the candidate most likely to beat him. If you get used to voting for that party time and time again because they're the best chance of beating the incumbent git, many people begin to consider themselves supporters specifically of that party.
In 1997, I voted in my first General Election, and specifically voted against Steen. It was a vote for the Lib Dem candidate, but also broadly a vote to get the bastard Tories out and replace them with Blair. I often wonder what, if any, my partisan allegiance would be if I grew up in a part of the world where the Lib Dems were a distant third and Labour were challenging the Tories. Let alone if I'd grown up in a safe Labour area where the Tories had no chance.
One of the stupidities of the UK system is that where you live matters a lot more than who you support. I think it's about time we changed that, how about you?
[1] I try to make a distinction when I can between actual Tories and mere members of the Conservative and Unionist Party of Great Britain, which is after all a broad church coalition between headbanging Cornerstone Tories, patrician One Nation Tories, Liberal Unionists, National Liberals, Whigs, Constitutionalists and Conservatives. Currently led, as far as can be told, by a Constitutionalist Whig with liberal pretensions.
[2] I typed then deleted the word 'bastard' there. Calling him that would be an insult to bastards everywhere. My father was born out of wedlock (technically making me also a bastard but my parents were married), and associating him with Steen any more'n is necessary isn't really fair.
[3] Non-UK based readers might not be able to listen to the embed or hear it on the site, blame some rather silly licensing agreements the BBC has with various employee/producer organisations.
[4] To be completely fair to him, the point he made during his intervention was a good one, but he palpably wanted to make the point Adrian had made and switched to a back up question.
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But longer term contracts with guaranteed income get reduced rates.