Londinium

She finished eighth in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

But Esther Rantzen is hoping to do rather better when she asks the public to vote for her again – in the general election.

The former That’s Life presenter has announced she will stand as a candidate in Luton South, where sitting MP Margaret Moran is caught up in the expenses scandal.

But what does she hope to achieve?

Ms Moran claimed £22,500 to treat dry rot at a property in Southampton, 100 miles from her constituency.

There was no justification for asking the taxpayer to foot that particular bill. Britain will be better off when Ms Moran leaves the Commons.

But she’s going anyway – after announcing she plans to quit at the next election.

It seems that Esther Rantzen still feels the public should have the chance to vote for an “anti-sleaze” candidate, to show their disgust at the behaviour of the political establishment.

Frankly, the public’s feelings are clear already. Some politicians may have been slow to get the message, but they know by now that voters are appalled by their behaviour.

Some independent MPs do a good job. Look at Wyre Forest’s Richard Taylor, for example, an independent who uses his experience as an NHS consultant to speak out on health issues.

But what would not be good for this country is a wave of celebrities sweeping into Parliament.

Being an MP isn’t about being on the telly, or simply demanding that things get better.

For those MPs who care – and there are plenty of them, despite the scandals that have appalled us all – it’s a long hard slog  to try to make a difference, however small, in the knowledge that you will probably fail.

A seat in the House of Commons doesn’t provide much real power. It doesn’t even guarantee that anyone is going to listen to you.

MPs who have achieved things from the back benches have been the ones that kept on trying, and refused to be discouraged by the lack of visible progress in whatever they are trying to do.

Do celebrities like Esther Rantzen have the tenacity and humility to serve their constituents properly, once confronted with the realities of life as a backbencher?

In the unlikely event that Ms Rantzen is elected, she may learn that being a good MP is much harder than she thinks.

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WD said:

... Totally agree - take for example her frontal lobe impaired interview with the Beeb where she said being an MP was an adventure. Yes, because that’s what we want from our Parliamentarian - we want them to be approaching the job as if it’s a day out at Butlins rather than sorting out why our street is knee deep in dog mess.

August 01, 2009

Londinium said:

... Thanks for the comment, WD - and thanks for adding your blog to our links Anything called The Wandering Drunk sounds like it might be fun!

August 01, 2009

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