Andrew Dismore

29 June 2013

Dear Editor,

The Conservative Hendon MP’s claim to have proposed his “first”  Private Members’ Bill is a bit rich: he didn’t even  turn up in the House to move it himself, but got a colleague to do so. If he was unavailable on that date, ( and most MPs would see it as a priority to be there for their own Bill’s formal first reading) he could have moved it himself on another date. However, if he wanted to give his Bill a real chance, then it requires a lot of hard work. A  bit like  getting  the best bargains in the sales,  an MP needs  to be at the front of the queue. For example, this means literally taking a sleeping bag and actually sleeping  overnight on the floor of the Public Bill Office  to book the Bill’s slot at the head of the list. It means actually writing a complete Bill, not just its  title. And it means  a lot of tough and time consuming  debating. He is right on one point: it is difficult  to get such bills through to become Acts of Parliament  and law:  but I managed it twice when I was MP – reform of divorce law and restitution of looted art- by putting the time and effort in to do  all these things; and I got at least three others Bills accepted as Government policy, including  Holocaust Memorial Day and corporate manslaughter. If The Hendon MP  was serious about making  law he would put the time into it, not just use this Bill as a publicity stunt, but at the least turn up to propose it personally!

Yours sincerely

Andrew Dismore