Douglas Carswell's Blog

Who are the rebels?

Conservative Home's Jonathan Isaby is a politics guru.  He has an extraordinary encyclopaedic knowledge of Westminster, and has put it to good effect working out which Conservative MPs are the most and which the least rebellious.

Reading both lists raises an interesting question.  Is it right to describe MPs who do not vote in line with the wishes of party whips as "rebels"?

A rebel is someone who opposes established authority.  On those occasions I have voted in a way my party whips might rather that I did not, I've not seen myself as challenging established authority.  On the contrary, I have more often than not been seeking to reassert the legitimate authority of the elected legislature, against its usurpation by the unelected executive. 

Jonathan writes of those MPs with "unblemished records".  Unblemished in whose book?  Surely those with the blemishes in their voting record are those who have voted in a way that is inconsistent with the promises that they made to their local voters?

I suspect that if the government ever actually got around to giving us the system of recall and open primaries we were promised, we would see those who stayed true to their promises as good representatives – not as rebels.

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