Today the House of Commons held an emergency debate on the consequences of the decision of the House on Wednesday 3 November relating to standards.
Wednesday was the first time that I voted against the Government Whip, in respect of an amendment regarding the Committee of Standards report into Owen Paterson, Member of Parliament for North Shropshire. The Government then acknowledged that the vote conflated the individual case of Owen Paterson with the general case for reform. Owen Paterson then resigned the next day.
I was very pleased that the debate today was granted as a necessary corrective to what happened last week.
In my speech I spoke about friendship. Friendship is a key part to all our lives. Our friendships are vital, for mutual support, for relaxation, and to help remind us of what really matters in life.
Loyalty to one’s friends, in times of great difficulty, is amongst the most admirable of traits. But I fear Mr Paterson’s friends had overzealously applied that principle last Wednesday. I think sometimes friendship means counseling someone out of a fixed position, rather than reinforcing them within it.
Friendship is needed more than ever in politics, particularly in light of the terrible murder of my colleague, Sir David Amess. I recognise that trust on standards in politics was badly broken last Wednesday, but I hope for all our sakes that the damage can be repaired as quickly as possible.