Shuffling
17th June 2003
This week Parliament is trying to find its feet after the reshuffle. The political furore these cause is nothing compared to their administrative fallout. Only the big changes make it into the press. The smaller, yet crucial ones, leak out slowly on web sites and behind-the-hand conversations.
Most MPs dread the first, post-reshuffle, vote. The easy bit is finding and congratulating all the elevated ones. They are not hard to spot in a crowded lobby. Just look for the unusually well-dressed ones with huge grins on their faces. The difficult part is identifying the displaced. People have different ways of dealing with disappointment. Some simply go away on holiday. Others really do spend more time with their families. The showy hug their friends and give big dinners. The stoics try to look as though nothing has happened. These are easily confused with the rest of us for whom, indeed, nothing has happened.
So I threaded my way carefully through the lobbies on Monday. Shaking a hand here, patting a back there. John Reid looked very pleased to be at Health; the new Minister for Children, Margaret Hodge, was beaming with pleasure and the newly inducted Whips bustled about with the news that we would be voting until 1.30am.
Filibustering
This late finish was the Opposition's way of expressing their dissatisfaction with the reshuffle. The scheduled business of the day was the Licensing Bill and it had to run for six-and-a-half hours. So they spun out the usually routine formal business beforehand by debating the pros and cons of the Speaker taking Wednesday off to receive an Honorary Doctorate from Glasgow University for two hours. Quite a feat considering the slightness of the subject. But a total waste of time.
Not that Labour has not done the same in its time. But the fact that her Majesty's Opposition has to resort to such schoolboyish tactics to show their displeasure suggests that something is deeply wrong. Perhaps the new Leader of the House of Commons, Peter Hain, will help us work a better, more grown up way, of opposing the government of the day.
Sneezing
It was a long, hot, night with lots of votes and, because I was working in my office on Whitehall, lots of running. By the time we finished my clothes were crumpled and my feet blistered by my new sandals. But I did get lots of work done, in between sneezes.
This is the time of year every hayfever sufferer dreads. I, despite having raided the local pharmacist's anti-histamine and eye drop stocks, have never had it so bad. My ears, eyes and throat itch and I sneeze all the time. That is why I did not go to the Datchworth fete on Saturday. Instead I sat inside. Sniffing and occasionally standing next to the open fridge door. For some reason the cold air helps. Roll on the rain.
Singing
Throughout the filibustering and voting of Monday MPs were comforted by the wonderful sounds coming from Westminster Hall. The Parliamentary choir were rehearsing for their Coronation Concert on Wednesday. Their voices dipped and soared as the division bells rung and the lone protestor in Parliament Square squawked into his megaphone. It was really quite beautiful and took my mind off the myriad concerns that make up my day.
Lobbying
The rest of the week will be devoted to these concerns. In particular, to trying to find out why, exactly, the Home Office has decided to cut the budget for that excellent charity, Victim Support. More on this next week.
Barbara Follett MP
