With the media and blogosphere presently obsessed with the NoTW etc, it is perhaps unwise to post on what I consider a matter of equal importance as it may well not be read, however........
Last night, just after 10pm the House of Commons voted, without any debate, to grant the IMF an increase in the UK's subscriptions of £9.2billion - or to use the correct term: the draft International Monetary Fund (Increase in Subscription) Order 2011, which was laid before the House on 13 June. In my post yesterday I mentioned that Guido Fawkes believed that many Tories would rebel and that I would believe any such rebellion when I saw it.
Lo and behold, from the list of the votes it would appear that only 22 Tories voted against the government (although I stand to be corrected) and these were:
Steve Baker; Brian Binley; Peter Bone; Douglas Carswell; Bill Cash; Christopher Chope; James Clappison; Philip Davies; Zac Goldsmith; James Gray; Edward Leigh; Anne Main; Nigel Mills; David Nuttall; Matthew Offord; Mark Reckless; Richard Shepherd; Sir Peter Tapsell; John Redwood; Simon Reevell; Henry Smith and Graham Stuart.
The votes cast were 274 for the Government and 246 against. This means that 130 MPs were either absent or "paired".
We are told by Conservative Home that the 2010 intake of new Tory MPs are, by and large, the most Eurosceptic ever elected. When looking at the names in the "Ayes" one could well be forgiven for believing that Conservative Home hasn't the first idea about what it writes - which considering it is run by Tim Montgomerie confirms that belief. It must raise eyebrows amongst the Eurosceptic public to find the name of Priti Patel in the Ayes column. What is perhaps even more surprising - perhaps even 'jaw-dropping' - is to find the name of Bernard Jenkin; and I doubt whether it will please Bill Cash to find a member of his European Scrutiny Committee also included, namely Chris Heaton-Harris.
Just saying...........
6 comments:
Every day something else comes up that makes me glad to have left the Tories behind. I loathe them more and more and glad I have joined UKIP
I notice that my 2010 intake Tory MP, Mr Alok Sharma, thought it quite acceptable that we could increase our contributions to the IMF by £9,200,000,000 without debate. I feel a letter coming on.
Glad to see John Redwood's name there. We often wonder how different our country would be had Enoch Powell become Tory leader. To a lesser degree the same could be said of Redwood who, after all, was a leading contender some years ago until he picked Ken Clarke as his running mate. But could his time come again?
I can never get my head around why we have to borrow money to pay a subscription to a club just in case we need to borrow some back!
Like Margaret Thatcher, Enoch Powell, and to a lesser extent Frank Field and Ian Duncan Smith, John Redwood is a believer in government that operates in the best interests of the country, not in the interests of social engineering, European integration, banks or other special interests.
They may not always be right, they have a certain predisposition to being dogmatic rather than pragmatic and perhaps most importantly they can actually understand things like economics and science and recognise bullsh*t when they see it. These are the characteristics so obviously lacking with the Camerons, Osbornes, Millipeeds, Blairs and Browns, in truth, probably 90% of MPs.
As to the vote, well it shows there is real irritation and rumblings of discontent with the current leadership which may well be important in the not too distant future given the acceleration in the Eurozone implosion. Or should that be explosion? Actually both, the situation is rather like a sun going nova, first it collapses in on itself then explodes with sufficient ferocity to engulf everything in its proximity.
It also shows that there is little interest in the IMF subject as well. Most MPs probably don't even realise the additional money is destined for Greece and if they do are happy with the assurances that it is only a loan and will be paid back with interest. Given that the EU has decided that default cannot be contained much longer the reality is the £9.2 billion will likely vanish without trace.
Before responding to comments it would appear that I missed a few names and that the total of tory rebels was 29! Apologies!
tso: As I have said previously, lets trust your hopes have not been misplaced.
psc: Go for it - make the b'stard squirm!
k: Interesting question.....!
Or: I believe the concept is called a political theory!
PC: I would argue the MPs voting for the IMF bung probably do know what is what but are too spineless to oppose the whips, or even worse they have their eyes on a promotion!
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