Thursday, October 8, 2009

SHAMED MP BEST FOR LINCOLNSHIRE



I'm sure I heard David Cameron telling our local TV news that the Tories were looking to replace long standing Sleaford and North Hykeham MP Douglas Hogg with a candidate who has been chosen from the local area.

So why are all the Tory pet wannabe MPs being parachuted into the county from other areas including London?


If it were not for Hogg, the NHS would have got away with murdering my Mum. If it were not for Hogg, I would have been homeless and my kids would probably have gone into care. If it were not for MPs like Hogg, then we wouldn't have any dissenting voices in the brain-washed rush to be the same as everybody else.

OK, so I know most people are angry with him for his moat cleaning paid for with public money - except for a friend of mine who thinks because Hogg lives in a stately home, then the moat cleaning, it could be argued, is about preserving local heritage. Personally, I don't mind because in so many ways, over so many years, and for all the good he has done for real people, his local constituents, I think he deserves it.

Hogg was one of the few who voted against a blanket smoking ban. He hates smoking, he's said it's an odious habit that the world would be better off without, but he respects people's rights to live their own lives and not be denormalised because of it.

Just before the news broke that forced his resignation, many people wrote to him about the ban and he answered every single letter positively. I know one consituent who wrote to him thanking him for his work. Hogg's response was that he could not face door knocking and having to explain to his constiuents why he claimed for his moat. He also said that another reason for his leaving was that it was impossible to be a free thinker in politics today.

Sadly, Lincolnshire has lost an excellent MP. What it will get, if Sleaford and North Hykeham vote Tory again, is brain-washed young 'uns who care more about themselves and their own careers.

Despite the fact that I have - until July 2007 - always supported Labour, when I lived in his constuency, I always felt Hogg was approachable, non-patronising, and a man who really did care for his community. When I lived in Lincoln, I never felt able to approach Gillian Merron NuLab MP because she isn't the type you can talk to. I could never approach any of the current candidates because I know what I will get - The Party Line.

Merron also claimed, amongst other things, for a bed mattress costing £1,400. That, I cannot justify at all. No-one benefits there except her. Hogg did the honourable thing. Merron still clings to power and expects us to vote for her again not recognising in any way that she was wrong.

Moat or not, Hogg's resignation was very bad for democracy and very bad for the people of Lincolnshire.