Stephen's Week

MONDAY 22 January 2007

Off up to London. At about Didcot the train carrying me to London crossed the one carrying Sarah Teather MP to Bristol. I had to be in London for Education Select Committee. My education team leader was on a visit to south Bristol schools. So we had a long chat on our mobiles about the state of education in Bristol!

The select committee was having its second look at the preparation for the new 14 - 19 diplomas that are due to start in 2008. This time we had college principals and education leaders from Hull, Wolverhampton and Eastleigh. These diplomas are the biggest innovation in education for decades and the selection of pilot areas is crucial.

In the evening I cast three votes against the government's Local Government and Public Health Bill. We voted against giving the Bill a second reading, then against the timetable for its parliamentary scrutiny, then against giving any money to its implementation. This is the highest grade of displeasure that can be shown at an early stage in a Bill. But the government won all the votes.

TUESDAY 23 January

I really enjoy hosting school and college visits to Westminster. Today St Barnabus Primary School from Montpelier were on an excursion. A class of nine year olds had a tour with a professional guide (I sometimes show small groups around, but it needs over an hour to do it justice) and I met up with them in Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Palace. I took them upstairs to a committee room and gave them a brief talk on my life as an MP and then answered questions for an hour. There were lots of good questions but my favourite was "have you met the Queen and Black Robin?" For a while I couldn't get visions out of my head of Westminster as Gotham City but in the end guessed she meant Black Rod. And if you remember my blog of the Prorogation and then the State Opening of Parliament, he is quite a sinister looking character, so probably one of the bad guys...

In the evening I went to the RSA building off the Strand for the launch of the UNITE Student Experience Report 2007. Lots of slides showing stats about student attitudes to life, the universe...and confirming that the Lib Dems are still their party of choice. If you want to see it look here (cut and paste the following into your browser):

http://www.unite-group.co.uk/data/Reports/Student%20Experience%20Report%202007.pdf

After the launch there was a dinner which was a useful networking event, as well as a great pork risotto. Unite is a Bristol success story, being the company HQ of a nationwide student accommodation provider.

I run back to Westminster for the 10 o'clock vote, though as it's a Tory Opposition Day debate it wouldn't have mattered if I'd stayed for more coffee and dessert. But several people have remarked that I've lost weight this year so voting is better than eating!

WEDNESDAY 24 January

Morning meeting of Education Select Committee was a dual double bill. Two Ministers, Jim Knight and Pramjit Dhanda, were in to answer questions on two topics, the school building programme and bullying. This was our last evidence session on bullying, the enquiry I initiated - and our report will be out soon.

Off to PMQs. I had heard Ming give a good interview on Radio 4 in the morning outlining our new position on Iraq. We are now saying that enough is enough and we should aim to withdraw British troops by October. Ming has made many sound decisions in his leadership but this is one that he has thought about for some time. It keeps Iraq as an issue where the Lib Dems are clearly distinct from the other two parties. It's an obvious choice for his PMQ. It certainly had more substance than Cameron's personality games with mischief making questions on Blair-Brown-Reid and the Home Office mess.

After PMQs I am off to Millbank studios for the Radio 5 Simon Mayo show, which does an hour long follow up to PMQs and the political issues of the week. My co panelists are Labour MP Gisela Stuart and Tory Justine Greening, both attractive representatives of their parties. We range over the latest Home Office shambles in prison places, Iraq and the tangle of rights over the Catholic church and its attitude to gays being able to adopt.

After the programme I get back to the Commons just in time to hear Ming speak in the government debate on Iraq. He was superb. Blair was absent, another misjudgement.

All day I've been wearing a particularly colourful tie with a flashing red light supplied by the charity Beating Bowel Cancer. Today is "Loud Tie Day" to get people talking about bowel cancer. I've supported this for many years before I became an MP. At the reception in the afternoon I was moved by the speech from a brave woman fighting off this most horrid of cancers.

But I take off my tie for another event that would have required more sombre neckware. Holocaust Memorial Day this year falls on Sunday, but MPs were invited today to sign a special book of condolence in Westminster. Holocaust Memorial Day falls on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945. I visited Auschwitz and the nearby death camp of Birkenau in 1992 when I was inter-railing. At that time it was still a relatively novel thing to visit Eastern Europe. There were certainly few visitors to the camp museum, which was a long walk from the station. On my visits all over Europe I have seen many places of awe and wonder. This was a place of gut wrenching, mind boggling awfulness.

In the evening at our weekly Lib Dem parliamentary party meeting we had a guest speaker from Operation Black Vote saying that we must do more to encourage ethnic minority candidates.

THURSDAY 25th January

Day spent mainly in the office and internal meetings. Gave an interview to a polling company doing research on further education. I had started sneezing yesterday and today my cold was in full flood. I really wanted to get back to Bristol but was committed to staying in London for an evening reception. I retreated to the Library and sunk into one of the leather arm chairs for a rest. The reception was for black and ethnic minority Lib Dem supporters from around the country who are thinking of becoming MPs and councillors. Ming spoke, along with Lord Dholakia and Saj Karim MEP. But the best speech was from Floella Benjamin, who presented

TV programmes when I was in school. I hope she becomes a Westminster colleague.

Rush off to Paddington to get 9.15pm train. My cold isn't helped by sitting in a carriage as far as Reading without any heat...welcome to Worst Late Western.

FRIDAY 26 January

I sniffle my way through job interviews for a new Western Counties Lib Dem campaigns officer. The panel agrees to appoint Tim from my office so I will have to recruit someone new but Tim deserves his promotion up the party hierarchy.

After afternoon surgery it's off to Sea Mills for an evening fundraising dinner with Chris Huhne MP. He's on good form and everyone has a good time. I'm glad to get home to catch up on some sleep. I never sleep well in London and being ill has made this week worse.

Fortunately by SUNDAY I'm better and enjoy our latest monthly curry lunch at the excellent Bombay Dreams in Alma Vale Road.