It was former Prime Minister Harold Wilson who coined the
phrase “a week is a long time in politics”. Throughout my seven years as an MP
there have been numerous periods when that phrase was relevant, but none more
so than this past week.
As I am sure readers will be aware, I have been a supporter
of Boris Johnson throughout the turbulent past few months, still believing he
was the best person to lead our country through our current challenges. This
was not a blind faith, but a view formed from seeing him deliver for our
country time and again in recent times.
It was therefore incredibly difficult and indeed sad for me
to come to the conclusion last week that he could no longer continue to govern
our country and should, in the best interests of the county and the
Conservative party, resign from office.
The events at the start of last week sadly showed that
despite attempts to change the way his office in Downing Street operated,
little change had taken place. We quickly and decisively reached a tipping
point among MPs whereby many who had previously supported him withdrew their
support with many resigning from the government ministerial roles.
As a member of the whip’s office, I was of course caught up
at the heart of the turmoil. I know some locally, including local journalists
and media outlets, questioned why I did not comment sooner in the week on the
events taking place and publicly express my views. The explanation for this is simply
due to the role I had. At times such as the past week the whip’s office play a
vital role in ensuring Parliament continues to be able to function. Many people
do not fully appreciate the amount of work that goes on to ensure Parliament is
able to function smoothly. There is a great deal of management, organisation
and administration that must take place to ensure not only the House of Commons
chamber, but also the many committees that take place every day, happen without
a hitch. A great deal of this work is carried out by the whips.
With so many ministers resigning, it was a full-time job to
keep on top of what was happening and ensuring Parliament, and our democracy,
continued to function. At a time like this, whatever our personal views, it is
not appropriate or particularly helpful for whips to be giving a running
commentary to the media or posting on social media. Another part of our role is
to feed back to the Chief Whip the views and concerns of MPs. In order to be
able to do this objectively, it is important that we are not clouding the
conservations we have with our own views.
That is not to say I did not make my own views clear to the
Chief Whip, I certainly did. Once I did put finger to keyboard, in the very
early hours of Thursday morning, once it seemed likely that the Prime Minister
would be stepping down, I was able to clarify my own thoughts and draft a statement.
The statement I drafted reflected my feeling at that time. I was exhausted,
mentally, emotionally and physically. The prospect of having to form a new
interim government and the upheaval and effort it would need felt very heavy at
that time. The last thing I wanted was the prospect of having to learn a new
role in government, potentially a new department and working with new people.
So I did include in that statement a line which said I would be happy to remain
in the whips office but would not be accepting any new role in the government.
It was a true reflection of my thoughts and feelings at that time – I meant it.
As long as the uncertainty and lack of clarity over the Prime Minister’s
leadership remained, I was not prepared to be in any other role.
However, 36 hours later when I had returned home to
Cornwall, managed a reasonably good night’s sleep in my own bed and been able
to get the events of the week into more perspective, I felt much better and much
more positive about the clear path that has been set out towards an orderly
transition of leadership in the autumn, as well as the formation of a new
government to cover this interim period to provide stability and ensure
essential government business would continue. Therefore, when the Prime
Minister did call me on Friday afternoon and invited me to become a minister in
the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), I was
willing to consider it. I did not say yes immediately, but having carefully
considered the offer and given the clear change in circumstances the Prime
Minister’s resignation statement brought, I decided it was the right thing for
me to do to support the functioning of government in these unprecedented times and
accepted this new position. Another important reason that guided my thinking is
that DEFRA covers many key areas that are particularly relevant to Cornwall
such as agriculture, fishing, coastal and rural matters including things like
sewage and of course environmental policy.
I know that there will be those who will criticise me for
‘changing my mind’. I did. However, it was Winston Churchill who once said,
‘those who never change their minds never change anything’.
The important thing for our country right now, whilst we go
through this process of electing a new leader of the Conservative Party who
will be our next Prime Minister, is to ensure this time is as smooth as
possible. This means government ministerial roles need to be filled by those
who are willing to serve in this way. I have no idea how long this new role
will last but I am willing to carry it out to the best of my ability for as
short or long as required to play my part to help our country through
this time.
