October 25, 2004
more boris
Barry, who lives in the same constituency that Boris Johnson represents as an MP in the UK Parliament, writes about my recent post about Boris starting a blog.
Hugh it’s all very well Boris jumping on the blogging bandwagon, but until he starts addressing issues pertaining to the area he is supposed to represent the blog is nothing more than publicity and you believed it.
I posted a comment, but it wouldn’t load. So I’m posting it here:
Barry, I disagree. To be fair to Boris, Barry, the folks in Henley knew full well that Boris “had a life” before they elected him. They also know he was unlikely to give it all up just to be a journeyman backbencher. And they voted him in, knowing this.
“Dear Mrs Jones, Thank you for your letter on the 16th of April regarding your leaky roof yak yak yak…”
I don’t think so.
If Henley want an MP that bends over backwards for them like how I think you’re suggesting, they should pick some fear-ridden party hack who’s desperate not to lose his job at the next bi-election. You know, somebody who nobobody listens to at Westminster. And then he and Mrs Jones can meet at his surgery every month and commiserate about leaky roofs till some Lib-Dem comes along and turfs him out in 2005.
Or am I just playing Devil’s Advocate here…?
Tom Watson, the Labour MP has an excellent blog, I have to say.
Henley is a safe conservative seat. There’s no way any other party is going to be returned. This is not to say Boris ignores Henley, he has a lot of physical meetings in town, heck I’ve even stopped the man in the street to bend his ear about stuff, and as I’ve said already he’s always responded to things I’ve emailed about.
But his blog is not a constituency vehicle. Perhaps it will go that way, but right now it’s a web site about Boris. Yes I’m sure we were aware that Boris had other jobs, but if you’re making a web site under the banner of Boris Johnson MP then I feel you should be posting more about the MP and what you’re doing for those who voted for you. People are selfish. People don’t really care about the big picture, the rest of the country. We want our hospital to stay open, we want more parking, we have opinions on fox hunting. What we don’t want is to be used as a stepping stone to push someone up the political tree. Of course there’s no way to stop that, but heck, don’t ignore those who voted for you. That’s all I’m asking.
Tim Ireland commented that the majority of the content is back dated stuff. Maybe we’ll see things more relevant to the constituency soon. I hope so, because otherwise that web site is just a puff piece, nothing more. It’s not an MP blogging, it’s a celebrity who just happens to be an MP.
(The comment wouldn’t load? Here, or at mine? If it died at mine, let me know what error was chucked please — the perils of rolling your own code. Running out to work now though.)