"Freedom of speech and debates; or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament"
The fact that disgraced MP's and Lords are now trying to use the bills reference above to "proceedings" to prevent their expenses abuses being punishable in a court of law is damaging in the extreme to the bills initial intentions.
The real intention of course was to allow MP's elected to Parliament the ability to speak freely without fear of the law and or of the influence of any outside bodies.
In fact the bill was central to the Committee of Privilege’s judgement in the case of WJ Brown in 1947, when it declared that "it is inconsistent with the dignity of the house, with the duty of a Member to his constituents, and with the maintenance of the privilege of freedom of speech, for any member of this House to enter into a contractual agreement with an outside body, controlling or limiting the Member’s complete independence and freedom of action in Parliament or stipulating that he shall act in any way as the representative of such outside body in regard to any matters to be transacted in Parliament; the duty of a Member being to his constituents and to the country as a whole, rather than any section thereof.""The duty of a member being to his constituents and to the country as a whole, rather than any section thereof"
The line above is worthy of repeat because it's purity and its intended outcome when set against our modern day political system has been corrupted totally, and the view expressed in the 1947 ruling would of course preclude national political parties and their whips from imposing national policy on individual members above the interests of their constituents or the country as a whole.
You see I have beliefs, more than policies, those beliefs have been formed and rounded over many years of local and national representation of the people have led me to the position I am now in of Independence from or loyalty to any national party or imposed point of view. They also guided my intentions in setting up Northampton Independent Voice as a collective rather than a Political Party, I don't want to replicate the system we suffer under, I want to change it!!
Until an election is called I am merely a prospective parliamentary candidate, but throughout the election I will use this blog to both update readers as to how the campaign progresses and also to discuss openly with friends and foes my beliefs and my values.
So where do you want to start? on what subject? ask away, I will be happy to discuss the difficult issues as much as the easy ones, and I will be as blunt and upfront as ever in any responses to points raised. I would however ask as a matter of decency for people to identify themselves, even if they feel only able to as a pseudyonm, anything has to better than "Anonymous"
Martin Bell when in Northampton recently wished me well for the campaign and told an audience at the Central Library that "We need more Independent and Independently minded MP's like Tony Clarke elected to parliament to bring some honesty back and to help to really change and reform our Parliament"
I of course agreed with him!! but look at what he said again, he and I don't just want Independent MP's elected, we also want more Independently minded MP's elected across the Parties who are prepared to stand up for what THEY believe in and stand up for their CONSTITUENCIES against if necessary their party machines enforced "policy" We need more members willing to use the 1689 Bill of Rights for the good of their electorate rather than as get out of jail free card! And we need more members to be aware of the Committee of Privileges ruling in 1947 if we are to enable them to represent their constituents in Parliament rather than weakly representing Parliament or their Party's view down the line to them as constituents who are supposed not to hold a view, and simply accept that they are just following Party Policy!!!!!!!!!
