Table Of ContentMEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Also by Lisanne Radice
REFORMING THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
BEATRICE AND SIDNEY WEBB: Fabian Socialists
SOCIALISTS IN THE RECESSION (with Giles Radice)
Also by Elizabeth Vallance
WOMEN OF EUROPE
THE STATE, SOCIETY AND SELF-DESTRUCTION
WOMEN IN THE HOUSE: A Study of Women MPs
Also by Virginia Willis
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: The Unrealistic Goal
BRITONS IN BRUSSELS
Member of
Parliament
The Job of a Backbencher
LISANNE RADICE
Lecturer in Government
Brunei University
ELIZABETH VALLANCE
Head of Department of Political Studies
Queen Mary College, London
VIRGINIA WILLIS
M
MACMILLAN
PRESS
© Lisanne Radice, Elizabeth Vallance and Virginia Willis 1987
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended),
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place,
London WC1E 7DP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First edition 1987
Reprinted 1988
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire. RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Radice, Lisanne
Member of Parliament: the job of a
backbencher.
1 Great Britain, Parliament, House of
Commons 2. Legislators-Great Britain
I. Title II. Vallance, Elizabeth
III. Willis, Virginia
328.41'0731 JN 673
ISBN 978-0-333-44566-2 ISBN 978-1-349-18907-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18907-6
To Giles, lain and Brian
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction xi
1 The Role of the Honourable Member 1
2 Getting In 23
3 The Job in Parliament 43
4 A Parliamentary Day 68
5 Pay and Conditions 80
6 The Job outside the House 102
7 Backbench Views of the Job 123
8 A Month in the Life of Four Backbenchers 138
9 Changes 152
Bibliography 172
Index 177
vii
Acknowledgements
We should like to thank the many members of Parliament who
talked to us in the course of our research for this book. We are
particularly grateful to the MPs who gave us copies of their
diaries - Angela Rumbold, Charles Wardle, Chris Smith, Roger
Gale and Archy Kirkwood. Special thanks are due to Austin
Mitchell MP, whose research for the All-Party Reform Group is
much drawn upon here, Jenny Jeger for allowing us access to her
1974 research interviews, and to Giles Radice MP for his editorial
advice. We are indebted to Geoffrey Lock, Jennifer Tanfield and
all the staff of the House of Commons Library for their advice and
the material they made available to us. Doug Jones of the
Computer Centre of Brunei University helped us with the
statistical data, Professor Trevor Smith kindly read and commented
on early versions of several chapters, Ted Vallance patiently and
meticulously compiled the index, and Jean and Bill McGonnigill
helped with proof-reading. Finally, thanks to Anne-Marie Maggs,
Yvonne South and Claire Gibling for their transcription of tapes and
typing of scripts. In spite of all this support, the responsibility for
any remaining errors of fact or presentation remains ours.
L.R.
E.V.
v.w.
viii
List of Abbreviations
AGM Annual General Meeting
CBI Confederation of British Industry
col(s) column(s)
DES Department of Education and Science
DHSS Department of Health and Social Security
EEC European Economic Community
HC Deb. House of Commons Debates
HMSO Her Majesty's Stationery Office
MP Member of Parliament
NOP National Opinion Polls
ORC Opinion Research Centre
plc public limited company
pr public relations
SOP Social Democratic Party
TSRB Top Salaries Review Body
TUC Trades Union Congress
ix
Introduction
This is not a book aimed primarily at the parliamentary specialist.
It is a book for the interested general reader or student of
Parliament who wants to know more about the backbench job in
the House of Commons. We do not set out, therefore, to discuss
the procedures of the House or the process of legislation, the role
of Parliament or the intricacies of constitutional reform. Where
these arise, they do so in the context of making clearer the role we
seek to describe. We believe that the job of the MP, both in
Parliament and in the constituency, has changed considerably in
the last ten years as, for example, constituency pressures mounted,
the new Select Committees got underway, and the volume of
legislation constantly increased.
The students of Parliament, for whom we are writing, may also
include many MPs who themselves admit to finding it difficult to
discover exactly what their job is. As one remarked, 'there ought
to be a new boys' induction course: it would have made my first
six weeks in the House a lot less miserable'. Another admitted
that the balance of the job had been a bit of a surprise to him as
he had not known even of the existence of Commons Committees
until he got to the House! The confusion is more than a result of
simple ignorance of the geography of the Palace of Westminster,
or the, sometimes arcane, procedures of the Commons. It is also
often a result of the diffuse demands, perhaps not always
obviously compatible, of the job itself.
The book is largely structured around two themes; the reality of
the job of an MP and the job as perceived by the practitioners and
others. Three main sources of information have been used:
Parliamentary Papers, official reports and secondary sources
relating to the work of MPs, either academic studies, or
autobiographical/biographical works; a questionnaire sent out by
the All-Party Reform Group to Members of Parliament in 1983
which had a 52 per cent response rate; and, finally, interviews
with MPs as well as the monthly diaries of four backbenchers.
Chapter 1 deals with the public perception of the job of an MP.
We argue that, although there is no 'job description' which
prescribes the work of a backbencher, no particular qualifications
needed, nor a specific daily routine required, nevertheless it is
xi
