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Posted Friday, 22 May
2009 at 11:40

I'm taking them off for the
Bank Holiday weekend. Sorry!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/22#22

Comment
Comments so far 0

What Stephan said and
Martin Bell knew

Posted Friday, 22 May
2009 at 10:22

During an interview on the R4
Today programme (and about a dozen times since) I said the following
- ish:

" No Prime Minister has ever had the political courage
to award MPs an appropriate level of pay commensurate with their
experience, qualifications and position; as recommended by the SSRB,
year after year.

Prior to my intake in 2005, MPs were
sat down by the establishment and told that the ACA was an
allowance, not an expense, it was the MP's property, in lieu of pay;
and the job of the fees office was to help them claim
it."

Whatever opinion you may have about that, and I have my
own, you cannot ignore the fact that this was the system put into
place, because no Prime Minister ever, including my heroine, has had
the political courage to address the issue. Everyone in the
political and media world knew it.

At a drinks party the
other evening, I had a conversation with Stephan Shakespeare the
owner of YouGov. I put to him that MPs prior to my intake had been
told for many years that the ACA was in lieu of pay.

"Yes, we
have all known that" said Stephan. "Everyone knows that, the
question is how do you move forward, what will be put in its
place?"

When Stephan said "we all" what he meant of course,
was the political and media establishment.

The BBC knew it.
Every single journalist knew it. The interviewer on the Today
programme this morning, who interviewed me, knew it; and Martin Bell
probably knew it because he was given the same rule book as everyone
else, when he became an MP 12 years ago. He was also, allegedly, the
best friend of the Labour party as detailed in Alastair Campbell's
diaries.

The system was a disgrace, an appalling disgrace;
but it was the system and everyone knew it.

If MPs prior to
2005 were sat down and told "this is your pot of money with your
name on it, and our job is to make sure you have it as it's really
part of your salary," what difference does it make what it was spent
on? They had been told it was their money - their salary. It was the
wrong way to do things; but it was how it was done, and been done
for a long, long time - MPs knew no different.

The technique
deployed by the Telegraph, picking off a few MPs each day, emailing
at 12 giving five hours notice to reply, recording the conversation,
not allowing them to speak, shouting over them when they try to
explain, telling them they are going to publish anyway, at day 15,
is amounting to a form of torture and may have serious
consequences.

MPs are human beings like everyone else. They
have families too. McCarthyite witch hunts belong to the past, not
the present. As do archaic, cowardly, methods of pay.

If MPs
are guilty, so are those who knew the system was in place, including
the Telegraph journalists who have now decided for their own
political reasons to expose the system, in a way which profits the
Telegraph, for their own reasons.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/22#22

Comment
Comments so far 1

Winners or
Losers?

Posted Thursday, 21 May
2009 at 17:04

Just park a couple of facts for a
moment, which you may not agree with but are factual.

The first is that MPs have always been
encouraged, by whatever means possible, to draw down their ACA
allowance in full. This is because it was upped in place of an
appropriate pay rise.

The rules surrounding the ACA were
deliberately sloppy in order to maximise the opportunity that MPs
had to draw.
This was always felt to be
the safest political method to remunerate MPs, rather than face the
media backlash of a pay rise.

Parliament is in chaos. The public
are angry. The Telegraph has upped its circulation.
There are 650 members of Parliament. In any walk of life,
in whatever profession, you will find people who are dishonest. It
will always be thus as long as we are all human!

The Telegraph are uncovering a few cases
of fraud, but not enough, so they are more than slightly
embellishing some of the stories. I write as a case in
point.

Enter the Barclay brothers, the
billionaire owners of The Daily Telegraph.
Rumour is that they are fiercely Euro sceptic and do not
feel that either of the main parties are Euro sceptic enough. They
have set upon a deliberate course to destabilise Parliament, with
the hope that the winners will be UKIP and BNP.

A quick online check of the Barclay
brothers and their antics on the Island of Sark is enough to give
this part of the rumour credence.

Another rumour is that the disc was never
acquired and sold by an amateur, but it was in fact a long term
undercover operation run by the Telegraph for some considerable
time, carefully planned and executed; and that the stories of the
naive disc nabber ringing the news desk in an attempt to sell
the stolen information are entirely the work of gossip and
fiction.

These rumours do have some credibility
given that this has all erupted during the European Election
Campaign and turn out is expected to be high with protest votes,
courtesy of the Daily Telegraph, or should I say the Barclay
brothers.

Now, if this is all a power game
executed by the BBs, how would they do that?
It is a fact that these men are no fools and are in fact
self-made billionaires.
I would imagine
and believe that if any of this is true, they know the British
psyche well enough to whip up a mood of public anger, hence the long
running revelations in the DT.

Where do I get this from? Well, at
heart I am just a cheeky scouser. I like to go into the rooms of the
faceless and nameless in Parliament, sit on their desk and ask
pertinent questions like: who are you? What do you do? I've made
friends with one or two.
One in particular I am
very fond of. He is a mine of very astute information; and whilst in
his office yesterday, we chunnered over the 'what is this all
about?' question.

He reckons this is all a power game. That
the British public are being worked like puppets by two very
powerful men. Whipped up into a frenzy to achieve exactly what they
want.

His very poignant words to me were â€œif
any of this conjecture is true, Parliament will become full of
racists, fantasists, and has-been celebrities. We will be rendered
impotent and may never again regain the authority to withstand the
pressure, opinion and whims of the overtly wealthy.â€

Scary stuff!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/21#21

Comment
Comments so far 17

Clarification

Posted Thursday, 21 May
2009 at 11:12

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.

I do rent a home/office in my
constituency which is paid for by the ACA. The Green Book rules
state ' if an MPs designated main home is not in either London or
the constituency the ACA can be used to buy or rent in
either'.

There is no stipulation on nights to be spent in
either location.

I chose to rent in the constituency and not
buy.

I do, from my own money, pay for a rental property I
have designated as my main home. It is near the former marital home
where my children were born and went to school; and where my
youngest lived permanently, and attended school until September
2008.

I will buy again when the market settles down.

I
have not used the ACA to buy furniture, sofas, plasma screen TVs,
gardening, decorating, home repairs or any luxury items.

I
did use it to buy a cooker, table dryer, desk, computer table and
storage boxes from Ikea as one off relocation costs in the first
year.

I furnished the house with items from my main home, a
couple of donations from my mother, and beds that I paid for myself
from John Lewis.

I have not claimed the Â£400 per month food
allowance.

I have not claimed the Â£250 petty cash each
month.

I have purchased and lost two digital cameras at two
garden fetes and broken a Sat Nav.

We have ordered chocolate
biscuits and tea bags with our stationary rather than using petty
cash.

I used a chartered accountant to make sure that HMRC
received my correct tax payments.

That's it.

The
atmosphere in Westminster is unbearable. People are constantly
checking to see if others are ok. Everyone fears a suicide. If
someone isn't seen, offices are called and checked.

All
because this country has never had a Prime Minister with the
political courage to stand up to the British media, and award MPs
the pay rise proposed year after year, by the Senior Salary Review
Board.

Year after year the salary stayed the same; but the
allowances were increased, were called allowances, not expenses, and
MPs were told to use them.

I wonder how many people are
aware, that if you are an MP and divorce, the courts base your
maintenance payments to your husband/wife/children on a combination
of your ACA and your salary.

This is because the ACA is
classed as an allowance, not an expense account, and is considered
by the court as the property of the MP.

An interesting legal
point. One of the confusing facts, which has got us into this
mess.

No MP must ever, ever have to vote for his or her
salary again; and no Prime Minister should ever have the power to
use MPs' pay as a political pawn.

Hopefully the good which
will come from this will be radical reform, which will prevent such
a disaster ever occurring again.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/21#21

Comment
Comments so far 14

Bercow

Posted Wednesday, 20 May
2009 at 17:56

A very senior member of the Labour party has told me
that the party, almost en masse, will be voting for
Bercow.

It means they can do the honourable thing and vote
for a Conservative and not be seen to be partisan,
"because Bercow's not really a Conservative anyway".

He said that the reason Michael Martin had failed
was because he had become isolated, he had no friends. The reason
Labour wont vote for Frank is because, he reckons, Frank is already
isolationist and has no friends and therefore is already out of
touch with the House.

I asked him how that logic worked as John Bercow
could be described as isolationist also. "Ah, yes, but that doesn't
matter because he's a Tory"?

Eh?

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/20#20

Comment
Comments so far 7

That's Life

Posted Wednesday, 20 May
2009 at 17:36

I met Esther Rantzen when I took
part in Question Time in Birkenhead. She had
just left the jungle. It appears that she may miss it as she wants
to jump back into another.
Not being familiar with the lovey dovey actorish world, I
made a huge faux pas with Esther.
My
first mistake was to assume that she was as nice a person in real
life as she appeared to be on the telly.
Wrong.
Sitting in the make-up chair, having arrived early, she
burst into the make-up room, having arrived late (actorish trait
No1).

She stood menacingly next to the chair,
almost demanding to be made up. I was on the verge of ripping off
the gown and hot footing it out of the chair; however, the firm but
gentle hand of the make-up lady pushed me back down as she sweetly
told Esther to take a chair, and wait her turn. She then whispered
in my ear, she's a pro, donâ€™t let her bully you. (Actorish trait
No2, the star of the show gets her make-up done first and is almost
always a bully).

Esther obviously thought she was
the star.
Her grasp of issues was scant;
however, she had obviously decided that a good way to get a cheer
was to use every question as an opportunity to attack MPs. (Actorish
trait No3 they blag it well).

I almost let her have it on the show when
she made a huge mistake, and then looked confused. She spoke about
an issue and then said, â€œlike here in Liverpoolâ€ . David Dimbleby
made a very cutting comment as she was obviously looking at the
crowd waiting for the applause that never came. I wanted to say,
â€œwe arenâ€™t in Liverpool Esther, itâ€™s Birkenheadâ€ , a big deal
if you live on either side of the Mersey. I thought better of it and
didnâ€™t.

Hindsight is a wonderful
thing.
I am afraid that Estherâ€™s bid
at politics is a rather transparent attempt to eject herself into
the public eye once again, and probably to get some work on the back
of it.

Jeremy Brier the Conservative candidate
has been working his backside off to unseat the highly unpopular
Margaret Moran; and given the feed back on the street, he could well
have done it.

Estherâ€™s arrival on the scene
will split the vote and guarantee Margaret Moran a return back to
Westminster.
Listen to Jeremyâ€™s
explanation of this on the Victoria Derbyshire show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00khjbg/Victoria_Derbyshire_Prime_Ministers_Questions_20_05_2009/
Esther's answer on
Newsnight when asked if she was going to stand was: â€œIt depends on
whether the people of Luton want me?â€

No Esther, thatâ€™s what the people
decide at a General Election â€“ you have to decide whether you are going to stand.

Politics isnâ€™t showbiz, itâ€™s life;
and if Esther thought the celebrity jungle was tough, she ain't seen
nothing yet.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/20#20

Comment
Comments so far 10

Frank Field

Posted Tuesday, 19 May
2009 at 16:35

I got to know Frank well during the abortion debate.
I am also the person who persuaded him to blog :)

He is a man of huge integrity, decency and
compassion. He is also well liked and respected by everyone. He
may be a Labour MP, however, I am sure he is going to be my
choice.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/19#19

Comment
Comments so far 9

Speaker Martin

Posted Tuesday, 19 May
2009 at 14:52

I was sat close to him. I hated it. Totally hated
it. The election for a new Speaker will now kick off in earnest and
will dominate this place for weeks to come.

It just doesn't feel appropriate to blog about
Boscombe Down today. I will leave it as something for the
weekend.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/19#19

Comment
Comments so far 3

Swiss Cheese

Posted Tuesday, 19 May
2009 at 13:45

For the sake of Parliament, I hope
that Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will walk in front
of the cameras, and announce that whatever recommendations, which
Sir Christopher Kelly may propose, will be abided by, to the
letter.

And that when the time comes, whatever the reaction
of the media, that they show strength, unity and leadership and keep
to their word.

One of the causes of this mess is that every
time the Senior Salary Review Board makes a proposal, every Prime
Minister ducks it, including my heroine, Margaret
Thatcher.

What is happening today is the Swiss cheese effect.
It's not simply the performance of the Speaker that has brought us
to where we are, or successive Prime Ministers, or MPs; it's a
combination of circumstances, a multitude of holes and tunnels,
which have all led to the same place.

I was shocked at the
Speaker's performance yesterday. He is obviously a man in
distress.

I hope my readers will forgive me for not rushing
in to enjoy or relish the downfall of an otherwise good and kind
man. Sometimes I am appalled at the lack of human kindness displayed
in Westminster.

For his own sake and that of his health, he
needs to do what he is about to do.

I don't think there is
anyone in Westminster who doesn't feel shocked at the position in
which we find ourselves.

The Speaker as the sacrificial lamb
is not enough.

The three party leaders need to map a way
through to a moral, honest, accountable high ground together, and
fast.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/19#19

Comment
Comments so far 3

Update

Posted Monday, 18 May
2009 at 16:44

Nadine has landed safely and enjoyed it
immensely (if a little shaken)!!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/18#18

Comment
Comments so far 6

Message from
Nadine

Posted Monday, 18 May
2009 at 12:46

Nadine will not be blogging
now until tomorrow as she is at RAF Boscombe Down â€“ weather is
apparently windy!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/18#18

Comment
Comments so far 1

Will the Queen be
next?

Posted Monday, 18 May
2009 at 11:36

I'm afraid that I really
don't support the motion to remove the Speaker.

I've said
before that the Speaker's position and authority should be
un-challenged. Over hundreds of years we have had good and bad
Speakers, nice and nasty, competent and useless.

It is the
only position, along with that of the Monarch, which I believe
should remain un-challenged in order to carry the authority needed
to execute the role with dignity whilst commanding
respect.

It has been over 300 years since a Speaker was
last challenged.

The speaker's chair holds the line in
Parliament. We MPs dare not defy a speaker's ruling: that may all
change now. The Speaker holds us in check, not always an easy
task.

Speaker Martin, on behalf of all Speakers to come
after him, must defy this motion and fight to retain the chair,
whilst treading the fine line of deciding when would be the best
time for him to go, and letting the House be aware.

If this
motion succeeds where will it stop?

Will there ever again be
any respect for tradition and heritage? For the procedures enshrined
in stone, brought about by Cromwell and abided by since?

Will
the Queen be next?

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/18#18

Comment
Comments so far 15

RAF Boscombe Down and
operation Hawk

Posted Sunday, 17 May
2009 at 16:40

An early start tomorrow as
I head for RAF Boscombe Down to meet my Air
Commodore.

Tomorrow is operation Hawk
day.

On Friday morning I had the
official medical (including the undignified pot!) and was measured
up for the ejector seat. I only just made it within normal ranges.
If my arms had been a fraction shorter we would have had to abort
this very important mission. And I would have been happy to. Being
able to reach the ejector seat button is something I have to be able
to do.

I was also told I
couldnâ€™t lose any weight this weekend as again, I just made it
into normal ranges. If I do lose any weight and did have to press
the ejector button, the seat would tumble over and over. I have to
be weighed again just before we go up. So, Iâ€™m sat here eating a
packet of Club biscuits.

I will be sat in the front
seat and flying at up to 600 miles per hour and during the low level
sortie, at only 2000 feet. That is going to be
something.

I will also be wearing an
anti G suit. For anyone who doesnâ€™t get that, sat here, I am at
G1.

When we turn we will go up
to G4 â€“ 5 which means my body weight will increase by  4- 5 times  and my blood will drain from
all my vital organs down into my boots.

The anti G suit will
inflate at this point applying pressure balloons against my legs and
stomach and will push the blood back up. I only have a low blood
pressure anyway and so I reckon there could be a chance I will black
out at this point. Good job the test pilot will be in the rear and
in control!

When you are in space you
are at negative G which is why you are
weightless.

Can you imagine what it was
like for our WW2 pilots who had to use the Valsalver movement when
breathing to push the blood back up?

This is a picture of me
with American pilot, Derek, who normally flies a T38 in the
US.

We are stood in front of a
framed picture which contains a folded American flag. Thatâ€™s pride
for you. Something we need to work hard at getting back in this
country. Cleaning up the MP allowance system would be a good
start.

We will blog a few naff
pictures from the blackberry early, as once again, Iâ€™ve lost my
camera. Budge, an ex pilot is taking me down in the morning with his
camera and so we will post the better pictures later. We also hope
to put a video on You Tube, if allowed.

I am taking an anti emetic
before I go up and apparently it will take all day for me to
recover.

I really canâ€™t believe
Iâ€™m doing this and so hope I donâ€™t bottle out before take off.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/17#17

Comment
Comments so far 20

Mail On Sunday

Posted Sunday, 17 May
2009 at 00:16

Have an article on me today which is just a joke. I
haven't owned a holiday home in South Africa or owned a home in the
Cotswolds since marriage split. As I have said over and over, I rent
two homes. They probably got that information from the register
which I probably havent up-dated but they really should have just
asked me, they phone often enough!

They have written a dis-jointed article which I
found difficult to understand, goodness knows how anyone else would
be able to.

In one para they state,  'she rents a property
in the Cotswolds just 100 miles from her constituency in
Bedfordshire'. Meaning what exactly?

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/17#17

Comment
Comments so far 18

Sky News

Posted Saturday, 16 May
2009 at 23:16

Have deliberately mis-led
people today.

Which is a shame. Until
today it was the only news channel I trusted, not
anymore.

During their news round up
they had a full screen picture of me with the words â€˜claimed
Â£18,000 for second home whilst only owning
oneâ€™.

All day I telephoned to tell
them that since my status became single I donâ€™t in fact own any homes, I rent two. The
second of which is paid for by the ACA and the other by
me.

It made no difference. The
truth did not make good
television.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/16#16

Comment
Comments so far 10

Contact with the enemy is
certain...

Posted Saturday, 16 May
2009 at 22:28

The Classical Brits was more
amazing than I can say.

I sat next to Fergal Sharkey,
remember him? He's now the CEO of UK Music and spending some of his
time working with councils to open music and recording studios for
kids who have a passion for music and who want to get into the
industry but are trapped within the prison of poverty and
seemingly un-attainable aspiration.

The photo is of Fergal
and I and, at our feet paying homage to Fergal and my new shoes is
John Wittingdale MP, Chairman of the Culture media and Sport
Select Committee.

How can I explain what its like to be sat
only feet from Placido Domingo and Katherine Jenkins as they sing
the wonderful duet, A Mother's Wonderment?

Jose Carreras,
Jonas Kaufmann, Alison Balsom, The Priests, Faryl Smith, they were
all there.

The high spot of the night was something a bit
special.

A distant memory from my childhood is of my Nana
playing a Liberace LP and a particular tune.

Last night I
watched Lang Lang and Herbie Hancock play Rhapsody In Blue on back
to back pianos. It was incredible, I'm at a loss for words to
describe how wonderful it was, and suffused with nostalgia.
Whist watching in both awe and rapture, my memory brought a little
extra to the performance. The smell of a Battenberg
Cake.

Iain ,despite being slightly
in awe of Jonathan Ansell who was also on our table, behaved
himself. Well that was until I told Jonathan that Iain had all his
'records' (Iain's words, not mine) and could Iain have his photo
taken with him?

Iain went all flirty and silly at this point.
Can't imagine why.

Jonathan had been nominated for the album
of the year award which was won by the Scots Dragoon
Guards.

A young Sergeant, a drummer and a piper came
onto the stage and played the spine tingling Amazing
Grace.

When they finished the young Sergeant began his
speech of thanks.

Rather than the usual list of people to
thank, he chose to spend his moment on the stage encapsulating in
just a few words the importance of public support for all our
serving personnel.

He spoke of the message they receive when
serving abroad just before leaving the base on an
assignment.

The message may say 'contact with the enemy
un-likely' or 'probable'. However the dreaded message is 'contact
with the enemy is certain'

He then told us what it is that
makes it possible for a soldier to carry on when he has received
that message.

"Itâ€™s not the training or
professionalism, or commitment. Itâ€™s knowing that they
have the support of the people back at home, willing them on
and supporting them."

Amongst all the glitter and glitz of
the evening what none of us sat there knew was that at that moment a
young man, having possibly received that message and having lost his
life in combat, was being flown back to RAF Lynham and to people
waiting at the gates to bring him home.

I had a lovely night out,
rapidly followed by 24 hideous hours. It was only tonight whilst
thinking on all the good wishes I have been sent from people today
and all of the support that I have had from friends and neighbours,
my local party and association, my Chairman, staff and colleagues,
that I realised what I have had to put up with is as nothing to what
those boys do week after week after week.

I suppose in my job contact
with the enemy is certain on a daily basis, but at least, armed with
just the facts, I live to fight another day.

Blogging on upcoming trip to
RAF Boscombe Down tomorrow.

Jonathan Ansell, moi, and a
dippy Iain :)

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/16#16

Comment
Comments so far 3

The Other
Place

Posted Saturday, 16 May
2009 at 08:29

I had hoped that I could
retain some of my private life and keep it just that, private. It
appears that this is now impossible.

The Telegraph has every
right to ask questions and to hold politicians to account for the
way they spend public money. But their reaction when I told them I
would publish my response to their allegations on my blog was
revealing. It appears that the general public is only entitled to
hear the Telegraphâ€™s version of the truth if they pay for a copy
of the Telegraph. They also felt it necessary to phone CCHQ with
veiled threats about what they could do to me in the future if I
dared to post the letter they sent to me on my blog before they
published their own article in todayâ€™s newspaper. I am afraid that
the Telegraph doesnâ€™t appear to get the â€˜new mediaâ€™. If anyone
is going to publish anything about me, I will do it myself, first.

Yes I do claim for my second
home in Bedfordshire using my ACA. I rent it. I never felt
comfortable buying using tax payers
money.

I felt it very necessary that
I should commute from my constituency to London on work
days with the rest of my constituents, in the cattle truck trains,
in the jams and delays even though I leave early in the morning and
donâ€™t arrive home most days until gone midnight, long after my
fellow morning commuters are in bed.

But, yes, I do have another
home. It was where I went to after I had finished my Parliamentary
and constituency work and changed into a mother and looked after my
girls. I lived in my main family Cotswold home until my marriage
broke down in 2007. The family home was then sold. I then rented a
home in the Cotswolds where my daughter went to school and where my
ex husband looked after her from Monday to Thursday during school
and Parliamentary term time. He then moved out before I arrived
back and spent his time with a significant other and I stayed
in the home, which I paid for from my own money. Sometimes, on the
very late week nights I stay in London, at my own
expense.

During Parliamentary
recesses, when I am not in the constituency or the Cotswolds, I take
my girls abroad. The rest of the time during weekends I finished
work and spent my time in the Cotswolds preparing the weekâ€™s meals
for my daughter, washing and ironing school uniforms, changing
sheets, checking homework, and leaving to drive back to Bedfordshire
when she was in bed late on a Sunday night when I had finished
packing her school and PE  bag and hanging the weekâ€™s
uniforms on her wardrobe door, just before my ex husband came back
to take over.

I never wanted my
constituents to think that I had another prime responsibility other
than Bedfordshire and Parliament; maybe I should have been more
open.

My daughter was due to start
boarding school in September but instead she started at a school in
Bedford. At the weekends we go back
to the Cotswolds together, or, if I have to work such as this
weekend, we stay in Bedfordshire.

During the Parliamentary
term time, it is unusual for me not to have a constituency
engagement.

I spend more nights away
from my constituency home than I spend in it and I use it for the
purpose of my work. I do, however, retain the right to have my
daughter, or daughterâ€™s with me depending on who is with me at the
time.  It may only be a
second home, however, it is a home.

So, to my constituents and
no one else, I am sorry. My crime is that I havenâ€™t owned up to
you that I donâ€™t always live here â€“ that I have a private life,
which has not always run smoothly. I couldnâ€™t work harder for
Bedfordshire than I already do - I have given it almost every day of
my life since you elected me. In politics, my constituency always
comes first, but in my private life my family does. I canâ€™t
apologise for that. What sort of person would I be if I did?

By trying to protect my
girls and keeping the circumstances of my marriage break up private
and the arrangements for looking after my youngest daughter in the
family, I realise that I am in fact arousing
suspicion.

I donâ€™t have much more to
say other than the posting of this blog will humiliate my daughters,
but what else can I do? I have to make sure people understand that
not everyone has a life which runs to plan. It really isnâ€™t always
a wonderful life and as a mother you just have to do what you have
to do.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/16#16

Comment
Comments so far 54

The Daily
Telegraph

Posted Friday, 15 May
2009 at 16:02

Here
is my letter from the Telegraph and my reply.

There
is one thing I know about me better than anyone else. I never do
anything I know to be wrong and I have common sense by the
bucketful.

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

Dear
Nadine Dorries,

The
Daily Telegraph is investigating the expense claims made by MPs
under the Parliamentary additional costs allowance system since the
2004/05 financial year.

We are
considering publishing an article in tomorrowâ€™s newspaper (16th
May 2009) which will contain details of your expense
claims.

We are
aware of the provisions of the statutory instrument passed by
Parliament last July and will therefore not be publishing membersâ€™
addresses or any other details which could compromise
security.

However, as a matter of legitimate public interest and
concern, we intend to publish the following details about your
expense claims under the Additional Costs Allowance. We would invite
you to respond to the following points.

1. In
2006 you claimed for the cost of a hotel stay on New Year's Eve and
another just a few days before Christmas, when the House was not
sitting. Please can you explain why you felt this was an appropriate
use of public funds.

I have never
spent a New Years Eve away from my daughters and I have never
spent it in a hotel, ever. In fact, New Years Eve 2006 is when I
held a party and cooked a 12 bird roast and I blogged the entire
evening. Anyone reading this can check it
out.

The Telegraph has an invoice
charged to MR N Dorries, which was submitted, but never paid. I
donâ€™t actually submit the invoices,  my PA does, and that one may
have been submitted in error, In error - because I never
stayed at any hotel on New Years Eve ever if it had ever
been paid it would have been refunded IMMEDIATLEY. What may have
happened is that someone who is not a member of the Carlton Club may
have booked a room in my name, friends do, however; my other
point is that I am not even sure the Carlton Club is open over Xmas
and New Year?

The fact is though that an
invoice was submitted from my office, for a room I didnâ€™t stay in,
which is obviously an error and no money was paid to me for that
invoice.

2. You
also put in several hotel bills that included minibar drinks. Please
can you explain why you felt this was an appropriate use of public
funds.

Oh that the Carlton Club
had mini bars in the rooms, it does not. If I ever bought a drink in
the Carlton I paid cash. For some
reason they are still listed on the invoice,
however, they were not paid. I have not, to my knowledge ever received public funds to
buy alcohol for either myself or visiting guests and constituents
and do not think it would be an appropriate use of public funds. If
that is the case and I am very happy to be proved wrong then I will
not hesitate to refund. To think that that you could accuse me of
behaving like a journalist shocks
me.

3. When you moved out of
your flat in Westminster, the fees office
demanded repeatedly that you repay the Â£2,190 deposit but you did
not and eventually they docked your rent claims in order to recoup
the money. Please explain why you did not repay the deposit when
asked.

Because
the landlord was seriously dodgy and refused to pay back any of the
deposit. The flat was left in an immaculate and pristine condition.
Despite my threats of legal action which would have cost even
more, I eventually gave up. I lost the Â£2,190 as a
result of renting a flat in order to carry out my job. a months
salary. The fees office should not have taken the money from me they
should have chased the landlord for it. In fact, I want that
money back! I will also ask my PA to post first thing on
Monday morning the correspondence between myself and said dodgy
landlord who doesnâ€™t return deposits at the end of
tenure.

4.
Your file shows that you twice demanded that the fees office make
"urgent" payments of several thousand pounds to your bank account
and when one did not arrive immediately, a member of your staff rang
and told them to "sort it out". Please explain why you felt this was
appropriate.

5.
Your file also complains of a "lack of co-operation" in completing
the ACA forms correctly and complying with their requests for
information about your addresses. Please explain why you did not
co-operate with the fees office.

Answer to both above
questions I am afraid result as a total lack of frustration towards
a department which is frequently overworked and understaffed. The
fees office continuously loses invoices, leases and payments.
Sometimes I am thousands of pounds out whilst waiting to be paid.
When I am told I canâ€™t be paid because they have yet again, lost
the invoice, I sometimes lose my rag. Iâ€™m sorry. I know I
shouldnâ€™t, itâ€™s just that I have other more important things to
do and few hours to do them in.

I emailed the fees office
with my change of house details at the same time as I told them to
my whip in 2008.

6.
Land Registry records show that your former family home in
*************was sold in 2007. You have announced publicly that you
have separated from your husband. Since then the only address on any
of your files is your rented house in Bedford, on which you are claiming
ACA. On this basis, we have reason to believe that you only live in
one home and are therefore ineligible to claim an allowance for
running a second home. While you have our assurance that we will not
print your address, please state exactly where you consider your
main home to be and in what way you are eligible to claim the second
home allowance.

I have no intention of
exposing every detail of my private existence, what little I have,
on this blog. However, needs must. I rent a house/office/
surgery in my constituency. This house is used in connection with my
duties as an MP. For example â€“ this weekend I have had meetings
all day Friday. I am presenting to a patients group in
Barton-Le-Clay surgery on changes in the NHS tonight. I am
canvassing Saturday and attending a church service on Sunday and
then after the church service writing a speech for the Police and
Crime Bill to be delivered next
week.

On the weekends I have free,
and during the recess, I go somewhere else. I am not publishing the
address. I gave it to my whip and emailed it to the fees office in
2008. I spend most of the holidays abroad, all of which can be
confirmed. My children stay with me when I am in the constituency,
where I go my girls go, however, one also lives in London and one
is at Uni. This has not always been the case. I now spend my late
nights in London. At my own
expense.

I keep the dogs at the
constituency address as I am often there on my own and it confuses
them being moved around. When I am not in the constituency,
especially during the long summer break, we have a house sitter, at
my expense. Again, this can be confirmed.

During term time I spend the
majority of weekends in the constituency as my job tends to be seven
days a week, as detailed above. My youngest daughter has attended a
school in Bedford since last September. Up
until September she attended a school â€˜somewhere elseâ€™. My
eldest daughter had a term time job during the last year in the
constituency before commencing work in London in a PR
firm.

My doctor, dentist and
recent hospital treatment have all recently been undertaken
â€˜somewhere elseâ€™.

We do
not presently see the justification for all of these claims under
the rules or spirit of the rules set out in the Parliamentary Green
Book. These stipulate that enhancing property is not allowed and
that purchases which are "extravagant or luxurious" should be
avoided.

What on earth are you
talking about? Enhancing property?? Extravagant luxurious
expenditure???

Please
could we receive your comments by 5pm today so that they can be
given due weight in our inquiries and properly reflected in any
article we decide to publish. Please could you also inform us if you
do not wish to comment.

You have my comments now. I
will refute any accusations you wish to make against me, myself.
Given that we all know the so called â€˜chandelier; was in fact a
paper lamp shade with glass beads hanging from the bottom you will
excuse my not trusting you to give me a fair shout.

Many
thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you shortly.
I can be contacted on ******or
[email-masked]

Yours
sincerely,

You are very welcome,
anytime.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/15#15

Comment
Comments so far 81

Powder and
Paint

Posted Thursday, 14 May
2009 at 14:13

Waiting for a meeting to start with
David Cameron, George et al, and thought I would quickly powder my
nose.

David came into the room behind me, and I just clocked
him in the mirror before he leaned over my shoulder, and asked: "Is
that Gordon's make-up you're using?"

As if! His shade is much
darker than mine.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/14#14

Comment
Comments so far 3

From Within...

Posted Thursday, 14 May
2009 at 12:45

Within what or where you may ask? Iâ€™m not sure,
but maybe this is what Hell feels like. It is so, so, awful, so
depressing, so shocking. I just want to put my head under a duvet
and come out when itâ€™s all over.

I have my accounts ready to be examined by the
scrutiny committee David has set up. I canâ€™t wait. I have felt
sick in the pit of my stomach for days.

I am watching people, that I have come to respect
and like over the years, on the edge of tears and distraught; and
there is nothing I can do to help.

I thought that the whole business of Sky flying over
Stewart Jacksonâ€™s house (MP for Peterborough) was really
awful.

Of course, what the paper didnâ€™t say was that the
house is an absolutely normal three bed detached house in an urban
road that just happened to have a big garden, which obviously
prompted the previous owners to install a swimming pool. The paper
also didnâ€™t mention that the house has been used for ten different
community fundraising activities, including the local children's
hospice; or that when the swimming pool cover is taken off, Stewart
invited the local children and neighbours to use it.

They didnâ€™t mention how Stewart spent ten years
fighting to win the Peterborough seat, working part time and renting
one room in a house. His daughter slept in a Moses basket on the
floor. Or how much money both he and his wife raise for local
charities.

One after another, people I know to be compassionate
and hard working are falling like flies. I should have been on a
visit to the National Grid with Elliott Morley this morning.

I will not judge or condemn: each person will have
to face their own demons, family and constituents. I am thankful for
the committee that David has set up. It represents the equivalent of
an audit and I will be so relieved to be given 'officiallyâ€™ a bill
of clean health. I feel as though my word is no longer enough. I
hope Sir Christopher Kelly takes note and recommends a yearly
expenses audit, as a key part of whatever process he proposes in his
report. And to anyone who wonders why I didn't speak out about
flipping etc, I had no idea!! It never crossed my mind that such a
thing was possible; and if you had told me people were doing it, I
would have had trouble believing you.

The damage which has been caused to Parliament is
immense. If the BNP come out of the local or European elections a
happy party, it will be a desperately bad day for democracy.

Today is the first day that if someone asked me what
I did for a living, I would be ashamed to say that I was an MP.
Thatâ€™s a big deal for me. It feels as though a baying mob is out
there ready to tear us apart: guilty or not.

On a lighter note, I'm off to the Classical Brits
tonight. I am taking Iain
Dale   with
me. I'm not sure what Iain thinks of classical music. When chatting
to him just now you would have thought he was being taken to the
dentist!

We had a lovely letter in the constituency office
today. It was a donation of Â£100 for our fighting fund. I donâ€™t
know who the donor is as I have an arrangement with the office that
I donâ€™t think I should and therefore they donâ€™t tell me and I
donâ€™t ask â€“ however, this particular
donor sent me a personal message. He asked the office to tell me to
take a fiver out of the Â£100 and buy some chocolate
biscuits!

I also know that he reads the blog. Thank you so
much. You made me smile this morning, which takes some doing at the
moment, believe me.

We had a very important debate  yesterday. I will blog a simpler description of
the case soon.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/14#14

Comment
Comments so far 7

Urgent
letter..

Posted Wednesday, 13 May
2009 at 15:19

Every MP has been issued
with a letter from Andrew Walker, Director General of
Resources.

As I blogged only the other
day, it confirmed my worst fears. The letter states that the person
or persons who sold the disc to the Telegraph for a reported
Â£200,000 may still have it and re sell for further
gain.

The letter also states that
almost every personal detail relevant to me, including the bank
account details of my staff was included on the disc have been sold,
and may be again.

We have been given the
number of someone who can provide help re financial security but
basically, it means all change.

After late votes last night,
on my way home, a lady walked up to me and shouted whilst jabbing
her finger at me â€œyou are disgustingâ€ .  I felt very scared and
vulnerable. She had obviously been drinking. I understand the public
concern and anger, however, I am afraid that too many people are too
keen to see bad behaviour where there isnâ€™t any and have almost
whipped up the public anxiety.

Itâ€™s time for a little
calm I think and well done to Anne Widdecombe, on the Today
programme this morning. She was absolutely bang on with a big dollop
of common sense.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/13#13

Comment
Comments so far 14

A special
case...

Posted Tuesday, 12 May
2009 at 17:53

Great meeting with David
Cameron today at 2pm. Totally abated my fuming
anger.

Not so very long ago I was
having lunch with a journalist. When it came to time to order drinks
I asked for sparkling water. The journo looked surprised, ordered
the water and then ordered a bottle of Â£48 wine from the menu, and
then asked the waiter not to take the cork
out.

I realised that he was
taking the wine home, on expenses. I feebly muttered â€œI hope your
editor doesnâ€™t think I have expensive taste in wine?â€ To which he
replied, â€œthe editor never sees the receiptsâ€
.

This same journalist has
been heaping scorn on MPs over the last few days!

I will say what I have
always said; there are 650 of us here. Most who have given up half
of our lives to get here and appreciate what an absolute honour and
privilege it is.

Most of us live a normal,
frugal existence and struggle to pay the bills, just like everyone
else. The majority are honest. The majority do not deserve to be
treated with the scorn and anger which is being heaped upon us. But
we are.

David demonstrated fantastic
leadership today. He has taken the issue by the horns and laid down
ground rules which every honest MP was screaming out for.

It would never in a million
years cross my mind to buy a house with tax payers money, do it up
and then sell for a profit and buy another. Not only would it never
cross my mind, but I had no idea anyone else was doing it! Hazel
Blears may not have broken any rules, however, to operate a property
development company on the side using the allowances system was
outrageous and totally different in both intent and
purpose from someone who had made a genuine mistake. Just for
the record, I have not bought any property with my allowances,
despite being innundated with 100% mortgage offers the first month I
became an MP. It just never felt very comfortable to
me.

My day has been spent with
Barristers, for one reason and another. Tomorrow I have a very
complicated constituency case which I am presenting to the Ministry
of Justice in Westminster Hall, and therefore have no time to blog
until after it is over. I will post the speech once delivered. I
donâ€™t often take constituency work into the chamber; however, this
is a very special case.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/12#12

Comment
Comments so far 12

In defence

Posted Tuesday, 12 May
2009 at 09:38

I donâ€™t have time to do
it now; however, I absolutely will be blogging in defence of hard
working MPs. Hard working but wimpish.

The media are inciting the
public to behave like a baying mob â€“ much of the time on
mis-information.

There is a MASSIVE difference between
the minority of MPs who have used public money to personally profit and
the majority who havenâ€™t.

Back
later...

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/12#12

Comment
Comments so far 14

The Best
Speeches...

Posted Monday, 11 May
2009 at 21:10

Are the ones which are never
given.

I thought my speech which
laid into the Equality Bill (or Harrietâ€™s leadership bid) was
pretty good, even though I say so myself, however, although written
on Sunday, my day off, it has not seen the light of
day.

I plonked myself down in the
chamber for a seven hour stint with good intention, but then the
doorman slipped me a note to inform me that I had constituents in
the gallery and could I go and see
them.

I asked Mr Speaker, who it
has to be said was not in the best of moods, could I go, lets just
say he preferred me not to.

I weighed it up.
Constituents who had travelled all the way from Bedfordshire, or a
speech. No prizes for who won.

I then had another note to
say that eight MPs were visiting from the Kenyan Government and
could I slip out to have a chat about the war in Iraq, the Kenyan
Judicial service, Somalian Pirates and Obama â€“ obvious why they
chose me then.

Two hours later, I suppose I
can understand why I wasnâ€™t flavour of the
chamber.

Putting my speech in the
nearest bin, I decided to look to where I was needed most. Having
been a qualified nurse I chose to spend my time removing razor
blades form clenched fingers, mopping brows, buying G and Ts for the
tearful and joined in the general rant about how disgraceful it was
that the Telegraph are not accepting explanations or the MPs side of
the story.

Like they say in the media,
why let the truthâ€¦..

They have problems? Not one
of them bombed on Question Time? In normal circumstances they would
have been looking after me, not the other way around.

Anyway. I am very concerned.
I think my staff may have bought chocolate biscuits with the petty
cash. I swear to God that not one has passed my lips; however, I
have seen the wrappers in the bin.  I know Iâ€™m
next.

I should worry. I could be a
Lib Dem. They are nowhere to be seen. Rumours are flying around here
that they are very worried indeed. Apparently, and I repeat that I
believe this is just a rumour, they pay their associations 3k a kick
to deliver leaflets from their office allowance. No wonder most of
them are never here!!!!

Give me a chocolate
digestive to defend any day!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/11#11

Comment
Comments so far 4

At the end of the
day...

Posted Sunday, 10 May
2009 at 21:34

Back in Bedfordshire. Early
start in the morning.

I thought I would reflect
on the start of the day and just how beautiful some things
are.

This morning I went for an
early walk, at 6.30am. Itâ€™s hard to stay in bed on a sunny morning
when less than 60 seconds from the bedroom door the foals were
already playing.

This little curious foal
came closer to say hello. Her mum popped her head protectively over
her back and Iâ€™m sure I hear her whisper â€œcareful darling, I
think sheâ€™s an MPâ€ .

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/10#10

Comment
Comments so far 2

What If?

Posted Sunday, 10 May
2009 at 13:40

I know itâ€™s all about
expenses, but forgive me.

What if David Cameron
called for a vote of no confidence in Brown during the Post Office
vote? Would the Lib Demâ€™s and other minority parties vote with us?
Would the 56 Labour rebels? Would the Blairites? Would that mean we
would win and force a general
election?

If the Blairites and Labour
rebels didnâ€™t vote with us and voted for Brown this would mean
that they would in effect be voting to keep Brown for the
duration.

Seems like thatâ€™s a win
win for us.

Is that what David really
means when he says heâ€™s â€œpulling the plug on Brownâ€
?

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/10#10

Comment
Comments so far 14

Stolen Goods
II

Posted Saturday, 9 May
2009 at 17:53

My concern with regard to
the stolen disc has nothing to do with the issue of expenses â€“
itâ€™s one of privacy.

My personal details,
including credit card numbers, bank account details, home address,
signatures, family details and IDs have all been sold to the Daily
Telegraph, and who else? Terrorists, pro-abortion extreme groups, Al
Queda, BNP?

My home has already been
'flagged' by Bedfordshire Police , as a result of threats to my
personal safety and that of my staff. Both the House of Commons
Police, Met and Bedfordshire have had to deal with a variety of
problems, including people turning up at the House, because that's
where they know they can make contact with me.

Thatâ€™s why I think it is
an offence. I feel vulnerable and as though my privacy has been
totally invaded. Anyone who wanted them could have had my expenses
in July, I have nothing to hide. I just want the basic right to keep
my personal details private. That and not wanting to have to move
house, which I now feel I will have to do.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/09#09

Comment
Comments so far 27

Princess
Harriet

Posted Saturday, 9 May
2009 at 13:07

Iâ€™m in the Cotswolds.
Removed from the stench of Westminster and the pleasurable
distractions of my constituency. Iâ€™m breathing in air which is
free from political pollution, other than the odd whiff of horse
manure.

I may be free from the
distractions, but not from the work as I sit here and write a speech
to be delivered on Monday during the reading of the Equality
Bill.

Smart move by Harriet. The
Bill could have been written by a union shop steward. I would
imagine itâ€™s fairly easy for her to announce that she has no eye
on Gordon Brownâ€™s job when she has that Bill tucked under her arm.

Drawing together nine major
laws, the Bill is as loud and as comprehensive an appeal to the
unions and Labour party members for the top job as you could
possibly imagine. The only way in which Harriet could make her
intentions clearer, would be to stand on the step of No
10 whilst stamping her foot and clenching her fists shouting at
Gordon â€œI want your job!â€

The most controversial
element of the Bill will allow employers to take â€˜positive
actionâ€™ in order to guarantee that they hire more women and ethnic
minority employees. Music to the ears of the
left.

You have to hand it to the
woman, she is one smart behind the scenes
operator.

Business leaders have said
that the Bill will be an unwelcome burden. Oh come on business,
whatâ€™s up with you? Anyone would think you were in the midst of a
recession and fighting to keep the jobs of the employees you already
have. You should welcome this massive tome of bureaucracy, impending
legislation and red tape. Itâ€™s just what you need from the
Government during these difficult times. Isnâ€™t
it?

I cannot believe that as
the Bank of England announce they are to pour another 50 billion
into the economy in order help us through the third wave of
financial crisis, as Iran moves another week nearer to being nuclear
ready; in a week when more of my constituents lost their jobs than
any other since I became the MP, that I have to sit here and write a
speech about equality in the workplace.

This in itself highlights
how out of touch the Labour party is with the events faced by people
day to day, and by the close of business on Monday, when Harriet
becomes the princess of the unions, Harrietâ€™s true leadership
intentions.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/09#09

Comment
Comments so far 11

Stolen Goods

Posted Friday, 8 May
2009 at 13:17

Iâ€™m still in the Commons.
Sleep would be good after my overnight trip on the Caledonian
Sleeper, which is a misnomer, it doesnâ€™t sleep.

It jerks and jolts and
squeals and stops what appears to be every few hundred yards, sleep
it does not.

I have just said goodbye to
Alameda school from Ampthill, in my
constituency. They have been on a commons visit. The education
department offered to find another MP to stand in for me, but I said
no.

Apparently the education
dept lady watched question time last night and was more than a
little alarmed to realise I was still in Dunfermline at 11pm and
meeting a school in Westminster this morning. The Caledonian sleeper
may not sleep, but it is reliable and does get you into Euston for
7am.

Talk here is obviously the
Telegraph and cabinet expenses story, however, I canâ€™t help making
one small observation â€“ surely the Telegraph is in possession of
stolen goods?

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/08#08

Comment
Comments so far 32

Mass deterrent

Posted Friday, 8 May
2009 at 11:53

The former Postman, Alan
Johnson MP, criticised me, the former nurse, during the Swine Flu
statement in the chamber yesterday.

Johnson, who if he had his
way would have us all walking round wearing face masks and anti
viral suits, omitted some very important information from his
statement.

He didnâ€™t mention that the
epidemiology, which has been used to judge the possible fatalities
from Swine Flu, has been derived from Mexico.

Or that that the
statistics conclude that you have a 2% greater chance of
dying from this flu, as opposed to any other.  You may think that this is
good reason to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds delivering a
leaflet to every home telling people how to handle a sneeze ,and
closing down schools and nurseries, creating an air of mild panic. I
donâ€™t.

We could all do with bearing
in mind that Mexico City is a
city of 20 million. That half of those people live in poverty
and have no access to medical care or drugs, not even a GP. Given
those circumstances, it is a miracle that the figure is only 2%; and
if anything demonstrates just how mild this virus is, and how able
we are to deal with it.

People die from flu every
year in this country, period. It
happens.

Maybe the Government are
hoping that creating an environment of panic will detract from the
very serious issue of Government meltdown. If they are, the papers
are falling for it.

Time for a few journalists
to toughen up, and start injecting a bit of common sense into their
writing.

This is not a national panic
or a state of emergency. A Prime Minister who has lost the respect
of his own party is.

I donâ€™t think there was a
single Conservative in the Question Time audience last night! After
I had a round of applause, the Liberal, Lord Steele, thought he had
better remind the audience that I was a Conservative; and despite
the fact that he knows me very well indeed, referred to me as the
â€˜Conservative representativeâ€™- just to remind the
audience!

When I referred to Kingâ€™s
Cross I was obviously talking about 7/7, a day I will remember as I
was on the platform that morning. And I did want to emphasise that
we arenâ€™t going to use Trident as a weapon of mass destruction but
as a weapon of deterrent â€“ but it didnâ€™t quite come out like
that because you just donâ€™t get the
time!!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/08#08

Comment
Comments so far 35

Nervous
jitters!

Posted Thursday, 7 May
2009 at 14:00

On the train to Edinburgh for
Question Time. Apparently, the Scottish audience are really
tough. No one can remember the last time a Conservative got so much
as a ripple from the audience. Great - Really looking forward to
this!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/07#07

Comment
Comments so far 33

Something
Lovely

Posted Wednesday, 6 May
2009 at 21:37

Every now and then, MPs are
invited to a posh â€˜one offâ€™ occasion. On May 14th I
am attending the Classic FM Brit awards, and I cannot
wait!

Tonight I overheard a very
prestigious MP tell a lovely story.

A few weeks ago he was
invited to a film premier. Never having been invited to anything
like this before he accepted, and took his
wife.

This is how he told the
story; â€œwe were invited to the after show party. The room was
bursting at the seams with beautiful young ladies all in their
20â€™s and early 30â€™s â€“ all obviously used to this kind of
lifestyle, and do you know, I turned and looked at my wife who is 50
and thought to myself, that without any question whatsoever, she was
by far the most beautiful woman in the roomâ€
.

So who says politicians arenâ€™t nice?
What a lucky lady J

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/06#06

Comment
Comments so far 6

Question Time and Swine
Flu â€¦Again

Posted Wednesday, 6 May
2009 at 12:12

There
was an interesting article on the Times
Online  , which
was written by the science editor. He wrote about the effectiveness
of closing schools as a method of controlling a pandemic; and he
referred to two recent studies to support his article. He also made
the point that controlling and limiting the pandemic provided the
time required to produce a vaccine.

I
would imagine it's quite obvious that closing schools would be a
good way of limiting the transfer of infection. However, as the
Mexican ambassador will confirm, the real danger to the public has
been the hysterical over-reaction of the
media.

In the
last few years, we have seen a couple of serious virusâ€™ hit
universities and schools in the guise of meningitis and mumps.
Neither the universities nor schools were closed. The symptoms and
effects of both are at best unpleasant and at worst
fatal.

The
symptoms of swine flu donâ€™t appear to be worse than those of the
common cold. We can still produce a vaccine, especially for the more
vulnerable; however, the best prophylaxis against future strains of
the virus is for people to build up their own immunities, naturally,
and now.

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from the flu,
usually as a result of secondary infection. It really is time to
calm down. I stick to my position yesterday. The best thing we can
do for our kids is not to close down their schools and disrupt their
lives, but to carry on. They will surely be stronger and healthier
for it in the long run.

I'm on Question Time with
Bruce Anderson tomorrow night. Remember  this   ? Flip
!!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/06#06

Comment
Comments so far 4

May 6th Public Meeting -
Cancellation

Posted Tuesday, 5 May
2009 at 16:59

Due to unforeseen
circumstances related to compulsory Parliamentary attendance for
business which will run all night, the 6 May meeting will have to be
postponed.

I realise that this
is short notice and attendees have taken time out of their busy
schedules; however, I am committed to the issue of preserving the
heritage of Mid Bedfordshire and we need to establish the three
committees.

I intend to
rearrange the meeting during a Parliamentary recess to avoid any
further clashes with Westminster business.

My office has been
trying to contact everyone who kindly RSVPâ€™d; once again, my
apologies

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/05#05

Comment
Comments so far 0

Question Time and Swine
Flu

Posted Tuesday, 5 May
2009 at 16:51

Oh my!!! I think itâ€™s
fair to say that I have been well and truly slaughtered by the
comments on my last blog with regard to
twitterers.

Maybe I should just give
up and go with the twitter flow J

Iâ€™m on Question Time
this Thursday; I hope a question comes up with regard to swine
flu.

I cannot believe that we
have schools and nurseries closing â€“ it is
madness.

The Minister for public
health should stop schools from closing. Far better everyone catches
the virus now, and builds up their own anti-bodies whilst itâ€™s
still relatively weak, and presents as nothing worse
than a cold.

Viruses are much
cleverer than we are. Smack this one with Tamiflu and it will mutate
and re-group itself, just in time for a nice winter outbreak when it
will be far stronger, more resistant, and really cause us problems.

It will hit business
with a huge cost in terms of lost days; and of course the cost to
the NHS and Government will be incalculable. Is there no common
sense anywhere within this Government?

Or is Gordon hoping
enough schools will close in order to declare a state of emergency
and cancel the Euro elections?! I wonder.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/05#05

Comment
Comments so far 8

Twitters

Posted Monday, 4 May
2009 at 19:59

There are new tweeters
joining the list of, err, twitters by the
day.

In discussion over lunch
today the conclusion was reached that twitters use twittering, by
and large, to moan and complain. Itâ€™s a virtual gnashing of the
teeth, or beating of the chest. A cyberspace â€˜well I
neverâ€™.

When itâ€™s not even that interesting the
majority of twittering is mundane to the point of â€˜ who in the
name of Bill Shankley caresâ€™?

I exclude from this
observation those who use twitter to enhance their existing online
presence and do restrain my comments to the individual twitterer. I
suppose I should exclude people like Sarah Palin from this
observation also. We all know that it is highly un-likely she writes
her own twitters, gaffes being totally impermissible even when the
race for the White House is four years off.

A friend showed me his
twitter â€˜feedâ€™ this weekend. A cure for insomnia if I ever saw
one. Did I really want to know what three hundred followers made of
the film â€˜In The Loopâ€™. One opinion would do. I have absolutely
no interest in knowing that someone had to take a roast dinner
around to her grandmotherâ€™s house on behalf of her parents whilst
visiting on Sunday. A lovely, personal family thing to do. But share
it with five hundred people? I think not.

Twittering has to be a
symptom of a dysfunctional society. You know the one Iâ€™m talking
about; when people donâ€™t talk to, care about, help, consider or
even interact with each other anymore. A survey last week found that
the average Briton has three good friends. Thatâ€™s the
dysfunctional society Iâ€™m talking about. The one where it seems to
me people are creating their own online virtual communities and
friends.

Three good friends will be
down to one in ten years as a whole generation of children who
should have been kicking a ball around and building dens, take to
the streets and discover that they donâ€™t know how to cope, lacking
the ability to share or socially interact. Largely due to spending
their childhood on an X box or a lap top. Maybe twitter is where
they will turn to for comfort.

At my daughters birthday
party this week 60 good and close friends turned up. People she has
known since nappies, playgroup, school and university. She doesnâ€™t
twitter to any of them. She may spend hours running up her phone
bill, but at least she and her friends still know how to talk to,
care for and laugh with each other. She was disappointed only 60
could make it as another 20 or so are in various far flung places
travelling.

Whilst psycho analysing
twitter over lunch, we came up with some things you just wouldnâ€™t
dare twitter, ever, ever. Especially if you were an
MP.

Unfortunately, although
hysterically funny and almost necessitated the assistance of a Para
Medic, due to an inhaled strand of spaghetti, I just canâ€™t repeat
any of them

Anyway, safe to say, I
shanâ€™t be joining the legions of twitters any day soon. I'll just
stick to blogging and bore you all to death with that
:)

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/04#04

Comment
Comments so far 29

Tainted Lies

Posted Saturday, 2 May
2009 at 17:53

I have just arrived home
from the dedication of a stained glass window at Harlington
church.

The window is in memory of
the late Rev Ivor Clemitson MP, the former Labour MP for Luton East,
and depicted, amongst other things, the church of St
Margaretâ€™s in Westminster, Westminster
Palace and Big
Ben.

I will scan a
picture of the window in on Tuesday.

I read one of Ivorâ€™s
favourite New Testament readings.

Most of us use the NIV
bible these days, however, Ivorâ€™s favourite was the King James,
and I have to say that I felt as though I was reading
poetry.

I read from St Paulâ€™s
letter to the Philippians 4 1-9.

Here is a small excerpt to
show you what I mean.

Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those
things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and
seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with
you.

Isnâ€™t that
beautiful?

Today was the first time I
had to stand in front of a large audience since Smeargate. I had no
idea how much of an ordeal it would be. I almost felt unworthy to be
stood in church reading at such an occasion even though every word
which had been written about me in the email was a pure lie from
beginning to end. I felt as though everyone was thinking the old
â€˜no smoke without fire thoughtâ€™.

Some of the ladies were
lovely when I went into the Parish Hall afterwards for tea, but I
even found that tough and pathetically, couldnâ€™t go in without
Kelvin (Hopkins MP) to hold onto.

I realised today that I may
feel tainted for some considerable time and whilst stood in church,
I thought hateful
thoughts about the people who made me feel this
way.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/02#02

Comment
Comments so far 11

Trident

Posted Saturday, 2 May
2009 at 11:44

I have just watched last nights
Newsnight whilst waiting to go and open a church window (note to
self; take screwdriver) it suddenly occurred to me that both Patrick
Mercer and Nicholas Soames  were using a rhetoric which was in
the style of men who were truly preparing to govern.

In fact,
if you didn't know they were in opposition, you could be forgiven
for thinking they were indeed already in government, so
seriously are they contemplating the task ahead.

I'm sure all
these men commenting on Trident are absolutely right, and what would
I know? I'm just a girl on the backbenches who relies too much on
instinct,  however, I
think I must be the only person who doesn't want the Trident
programme to be cut.

The major spend, 15billion, isn't going
to kick in for another 15 years. Who knows where we will be by
then?

Could we have predicted 9.11 or Kings Cross 15 years
ago? Could we have foreseen that we would have been at war in
Iraq and
Afghanistan?

How
can we possibly predict today what threat the future may hold? Has
anyone listened to the words of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran
just lately?

We frequently witness the zealous rise in
Islamist fundamentalism in this country and abroad, to the dismay of
all who are not, including the vast majority of the peaceful Muslim
community.

It must be obvious to all that there will be
little common ground between a faction which wants to see anyone who
is not an Islamist wiped of the face of the earth, and just
about every other religion in the world, including
Christianity.

I am sure there are other ways, and I wait to
be educated, however, it seems to me that a priority of any
government is to keep its people safe - not be aggressive or war
like - just keep people safe.

I can't think of any better way
of doing that other than with the threat of deployment of
Trident missiles, which cannot be intercepted once
launched.

I'm not being hawkish here, I just want to know
that one day when I die, a nuclear sub will be prowling silently
under the water, to the knowledge of all, keeping both my kids safe
in their beds and the beliefs of billions intact.

I donâ€™t think 15 billion
is too much to ask for that when we have a government today
wasting
trillions!

I also believe we ask too
much of our troops in terms of what we expect from them in
situations of conflict. Evidenced from the condition of the boots to
vehichles and tanks in Iraq.

If
we cut back on Trident was does that say to our very own heroes?

Anyway,
what do I know? I am definitley on safer ground talking about
hospitals than nuclear subs!

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/02#02

Comment
Comments so far 25

The great Roy
Orbison

Posted Friday, 1 May
2009 at 17:41

I am about to move away
from the desk and start preparing for my eldest daughters birthday
and so blogging will be light over the weekend. I have a busy week
coming up next week and so I am going to spend my weekend relaxing,
visiting places like this
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-snowshillmanor/     and
generally chillinâ€™ out in the Cotswolds. That is after I have
finished the rest of my constituency duties which will be on
Saturday afternoon.

Earlier in the week I
entitled a blog, the touch of your hand. It was obviously from the
Roy Orbison song, Crying, which I havenâ€™t been able to get out of
my head since it popped in when thinking of a blog
title.

Maybe itâ€™s because Iâ€™m
from Liverpool and grew up with the Beatles as my background music,
and had to sit on the steps and watch my mum and her friend Anita
screaming as the Beatles flew into Speke
Airport - Iâ€™m not
sure, however, I do have a passion for music from that era,
especially the American Crooners. I also, for some weird reason,
have Roy Orbison and the Beatles enmeshed as one in my memory â€“ as
though they were a band of five.

Anyway, someone has just
text me the You Tube link to the original Roy Orbison recording of
Crying and other Roy greats. Does anyone sing with
that much passion anymore? The same friend has told me that Roy
Orbisonâ€™s motherâ€™s name was Nadine.

Well I never. Reckon I
might pick up a Roy CD over the
weekend.

Have a good one
everyone.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/01#01

Comment
Comments so far 10

Stats..

Posted Friday, 1 May
2009 at 14:42

Ive just been sent my stats for April.
I really couldn't be less interested. However, total hits -
539,724.

I suppose it was a busy
month.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/01#01

Comment
Comments so far 5

A dead
weight..

Posted Friday, 1 May
2009 at 14:08

Iâ€™m
between appointments in the constituency, looking out at the
sunshine and feeling down.

I've
just said goodbye to a lovely constituent. He cannot bear to be
on benefits and has a job. Itâ€™s paying him Â£11,000 pa. He manages
to pay rent, council tax, bills and maintain his car. If he didnâ€™t
have the car he couldnâ€™t work. However, there isnâ€™t any money
left over for food. He buys his food on a credit card and each week
the debt is mounting up. He has now begun to have panic attacks when
he enters a supermarket as he cannot bear the guilt he experiences
at buying his food on a credit card. He told me to blog his story.
Very soon he may have to turn to benefits as the car wonâ€™t carry
on for much longer and he canâ€™t afford a new one. As we all know,
thatâ€™s the point at which he will fall into the poverty
trap.

One
after the other I hear a different story. A year ago people used to
come to me to complain about issues which really werenâ€™t worth
complaining about. Now each story has an element of absolute
desperation.

I hope a
general election comes soon.

I hope
we scrap the NHS data base, the ID card scheme and regional
assemblies within days. I hope we take a scythe to every penny spent
on public services which has nothing to do with keeping people well,
educated and safe and I really hope that the people of this country
are ready and have the stomach to take that which must be done in
order to restore prosperity. I hope we clamp down on immigration and
operate a ruthless pointâ€™s based system based on the
skill need of the country. I hope we radically amend our
relationship with the EU and claw back some of the massive subsidies
we hand over and use that money to benefit people like my very
unwell and unhappy
constituent.

People
need to start adopting a war time mentality. The cause is no less
important. The prize is the restoration of our country, its
viability, our pride and position, our status and
worth.

Itâ€™s
going to be really very hard indeed. I just hope people are
ready.

To cheer
myself up I have remembered an exchange I had with a colleague
yesterday.

A
Minister with whom I get along very well and I, often meet behind
the computers in the memberâ€™s library and have a
chat.

Yesterday we were discussing the boxes of expense forms which
each MP has to verify before
publication.

Exchange
went like this. N is me
obviously.

N
â€œHave you had any other MPs expense slips in your boxesâ€ ?

M
â€œLoads, some have had the slips of a few different MPs in their
boxesâ€

N â€œX
had the receipts of five other MPs in his box which quite clearly
displayed credit card numbers, his home and constituency address and
telephone numbersâ€

M â€œI
had a dead MP in mineâ€

N
â€œGosh, your box must be big. How did you get it upstairsâ€
?

N was then
splattered with a mouthful of tea M had just attempted to
drink.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/01#01

Comment
Comments so far 5

Julian Lewis
MP

Posted Friday, 1 May
2009 at 12:39

Julian Lewis has to be one
of the nicest MPs in Parliament.

Well respected by MPs in
all parties - he is incredibly hard working, diligent, kind,
articulate, intelligent, thoughtful - I canâ€™t think he has a
single enemy in the House.

Smearing isnâ€™t always
confined to high office. Julian has been through the most horrific
time with a Liberal Democrat opponent in his constituency and things
have got so bad that last week, Julian secured an end of day debate
in the chamber in order to highlight the smear campaign he has been
subjected to.

It is a tribute to Julian
that many MPs, having already worked a 15 hour day, stayed behind
for the debate.

The details are
here.

http://www.julianlewis.net/antics_detail.php?id=11

Lets hope that someone in
the local party realises the damage this man is doing to the
political process and has him replaced.

Politicians and potential
politicians will never earn the respect of the public until they
behave in a way which earns that respect.

It is time for a new
austerity in many things, expenses, the economy and even
behaviour.

http://blog.dorries.org/Blogs/2009/May/01#01

Comment
Comments so far 9

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Comments

Posted Friday, 22 May
2009 at 11:40

What
Stephan said and Martin Bell knew

Posted Friday, 22 May
2009 at 10:22

Winners
or Losers?

Posted Thursday, 21 May
2009 at 17:04

Clarification

Posted Thursday, 21 May
2009 at 11:12

Bercow

Posted Wednesday, 20 May
2009 at 17:56

That's
Life

Posted Wednesday, 20 May
2009 at 17:36

Frank
Field

Posted Tuesday, 19 May
2009 at 16:35

Speaker
Martin

Posted Tuesday, 19 May
2009 at 14:52

Swiss
Cheese

Posted Tuesday, 19 May
2009 at 13:45

Update

Posted Monday, 18 May
2009 at 16:44