Bob Spink (Castle Point) featured in February's blog relating to Member's expenses. Only this week I realised Bob had become the third Conservative to lose the party whip after Derek Conway and Andrew Pelling.
Degsy Conway, you will recall, employed nearly his entire family in his Parliamentary office although quite what they did to earn the renumeration is not altogether clear. Derek is the only MP ever to resign to spend less time with his family. Andrew Pelling was "resigned" from the whip following a fracas with his wife last year, although charges of assault were dropped.
The reasons for Bob's departure are harder to discern. He raised the issue as a point of order during the budget debate and referred to "criminal and other irregularities" in his constituency.
Bob has been fighting his association who wish to de-select him and accusations about his private life abound. Say what you like about Bob Spink (and people do, often) he's certainly not idle, the day he took the hemlock, he laid 29 Parliamentary Questions. I confess I missed the entire episode as I was, that week, consumed by events at the Cheltenham Festival.
I've seen Bob Spink at work in the Commons and he comes across as someone from the Norman Tebbit school of tolerance and fraternity. In 2005 one of his election campaign leaflets included the following question to our former PM on asylum seekers, "What part of 'send them back' don't you understand Mr Blair?"
Anyone might now put the question, "What part of 'you're sacked' don't you understand, Mr Spink?"
Degsy Conway, you will recall, employed nearly his entire family in his Parliamentary office although quite what they did to earn the renumeration is not altogether clear. Derek is the only MP ever to resign to spend less time with his family. Andrew Pelling was "resigned" from the whip following a fracas with his wife last year, although charges of assault were dropped.
The reasons for Bob's departure are harder to discern. He raised the issue as a point of order during the budget debate and referred to "criminal and other irregularities" in his constituency.
Bob has been fighting his association who wish to de-select him and accusations about his private life abound. Say what you like about Bob Spink (and people do, often) he's certainly not idle, the day he took the hemlock, he laid 29 Parliamentary Questions. I confess I missed the entire episode as I was, that week, consumed by events at the Cheltenham Festival.
I've seen Bob Spink at work in the Commons and he comes across as someone from the Norman Tebbit school of tolerance and fraternity. In 2005 one of his election campaign leaflets included the following question to our former PM on asylum seekers, "What part of 'send them back' don't you understand Mr Blair?"
Anyone might now put the question, "What part of 'you're sacked' don't you understand, Mr Spink?"
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