Another Letter to Mrs Dorries

I have tried to contact my MP on a few occasions recently, and received no response or acknowledgement other than an automated email. I have today posted and emailed this letter to her, and I hope that I might receive a response this time

"Dear Mrs Dorries

Please forgive the long letter, but after many years of being your constituent, I have a number of issues I would like to raise with you.

Expenses.

Your thoughts and views on this subject were widely reported, and your blog made your views very clear, however, as one of your constituents, I would like you to clear up the following;

On your blog of 21st May 2009 http://blog.dorries.org/arc-2009_May.aspx You state the following;

“I’ve finished going through all my receipts and thought I had better make some things crystal clear:

I do NOT own a home in South Africa.

I do NOT own a home from which I receive a rental income.”

Yet the register of members interests published on 6th May 2009 states this as your entry;

“DORRIES, Nadine (Mid Bedfordshire)

8. Land and Property

House in Gloucestershire, from which rental income is received.

Holiday home in South Africa.”

I have written previously, and I am yet to receive a reply on this matter. I am concerned that this ambiguity might lead people to have the wrong idea about you.

Your Blog & Twitter

You have recently decided that Twitter is a waste of time, and you have criticsed those that use it heavily. This is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion, however, I am sure you will acknowledge that you used it to great effect during the election campaign to smear your opponents. I was wondering when it became a waste of time to use it? Was it at the exact moment you got elected?

I read your blog regularly to keep updated on all the work you do in your constituency. At times I commented on it, not always in a positive way, but always in a polite way. Now it seems that you have removed any form of comment on the blog, which really is a shame as it was good to share our opinions with you openly and honestly?What did you remove this facility? Was it because of one or two troublesome people, and would it not have been worth blocking them?

You also blocked me on Twitter for asking the question about your expenses above! It does begin to look like you want to spend time in office making pronouncements, not entering into debate, which I think is a shame.

You recent diatribe against one of your constituents I am afraid does you little credit. As a taxpayer, I have become increasingly concerned with the money that is being wasted by MPs. I know that you believe the campaign on expenses to have been cruel and unjustifiable, but we want openness and honesty, not hysterical mentions of suicide to try to stop people from looking. I realise that your salary is not the biggest in the world, but I would respectfully suggest that beecoming embroiled in a personal campaign about one of your constituents is NOT the best way to spend tax payers money, surely your time could be usefully employed elsewhere? There are also some worrying comments you make abou the hustings meeting in Flitwick that I will cover below. Whatever your views of Ms Cullen, I would again, respectfully suggest that if you spent the amount of time on every one of your constituents in a campaign of vindictive accusation and bile on more constructive things, you may well avoid the amount of negative publicity that you have been receiving. Your outbust has led to personal information being published about Ms Cullen on a well know political blog. I want my MP to be a voice of positivity, not a voice that belongs in the dark ages of politics. Your comments about the Labout candidate’s service record, and the Liberal Democrat’s “Handcuffs” were childish to say the least, and are exactly the kind of smear that you have been so vocal in crtiticising.

I sent you an email last week about you blog. I was disgusted to see that you had referred to a website as containing Porn and then provided a link to it on your website! This was so deeply irresponsible from a member of Parliament. My eleven year old daughter was looking at your blog. As I said on my email, I only wish that you had shown the same level of responsibility to children that I did in supervising her online time. In the spirit of sense and decency, I have asked her to check with me before visiting your website again. Yet you then spend time in the local paper criticising others for doing so! I would ove to hear your view on this, so that I may perhaps see this as something other than base hypocrisy. Why not acknowledge publically that you made a mistake rather than pointing the finger at other people? What other people spend their time writing is none of your, or my business. In your case, it IS my business, as my taxes are paying for you to do it. Perhaps you only edited your blog as the complaint I sent was copied into David Cameron’s office?

The Flitwick Hustings

I attended this meeting, and I cannot believe that you are still bringing it up, and still doing so inaccuratley. Ms Cullen did not, at any point “storm” anywhere, or “Pace up and down”. She did not raise her voice any louder than anyone else when you left the meeting early. Why do you persist in stating these things as fact? I met Ms Cullen for the first time that night, and have not met her since by the way, and I am not a Labour party supporter either. You are careful not to mention that you only told us that you had to leave at 8.45 after you had the spat with the man and the camera, and in fact left at 8.30, only to stand outside chatting and smoking for 15 minutes before you left.The reason people were shouting was that we wanted to hear your opinion and perspective. I was happily able to question the Labour and Liberal candidates that evening, but the only impression I got from you was that of a candidate that treated her constituents with disdain and contempt. You told the whole meeting that you were going to another really important meeting. It must have beeen extremely important to take precedent over the hustings of the general election, and a chance for people to hear your voice days before they vote. It must also have bene extremely brief, as you were on Twitter within an hour of leaving the Flitwick Hustings. This is exactly the kind of behaviour that creates the impression of an MP so safe and secure in her seat, that she does not really care about the thoughts of her constituents.

Mrs Dorries, I find your style of politics to be stuck in the dark ages.You won the election with an increased majority, but this does not give you carte blanche to behave in the way you have. From your ridiculous publicity stunts (High heels, Reality TV shows, ignorant pronouncements on abortion), through to your insulting and personal comments, for example referring to a colleague as Dr Death. You personal campaign against a constituent is quite frankly a disgrace, and I would seriously question this behaviour if it came from a ten year old, let alone a grown woman in her 50’s who is paid by the taxpayer. You have done everything you can to actively discourage open, honest and grown up debate, and if you are questioned on this, you seem to resort to personal attacks. Let’s have some honesty, decency and integrity from you rather than the half truths, insults and downright lies.

Yours sincerely

Keith Badham

p.s I am sending this via email as well as post in an effort to ensure I receive a response this time."

I shall of course update the blog with any response