Stephen's Week

Hello all

I'm typing this late on Sunday night after a remarkable day's events in connection with the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade...read to the end to find out more!

Stephen

MONDAY 19h MARCH 2007

Up to London by lunchtime. My regular Monday afternoon fixture of Education Select Cttee this week saw a presentation from the National Audit Office. They were showing us some pictograms of the huge number of organisations involved in adult skills. It really is a labyrinth.

In the evening I chaired the second session of the group reviewing Lib Dem education policies for post 16 year olds.

The evening division was a peculiar one. It was to endorse (or otherwise) a decision made by a small statutory instruments committee, which considers so called secondary legislation, which is the detailed rules and regs that follow from an Act being passed. These were the "Sexual Orientation Regulations" that come about after last years Equality Act. They prohibit discrimination against lesbians and gay men in the provision of goods and services. For example, it will now be illegal for a restaurant to refuse bookings from gay male couples or for a hotel to refuse lesbians a double room. Some churches have opposed these regulations and so have a lot of Conservative MPs. I would have preferred it if the regulations had been subject to a full debate on the floor of the House of Commons, where all views could have been expressed. But the government wanted to pass them with minimum fuss and the Tories were desperate to avoid a public display of the fact that they are not as cuddly as Cameron would like us to believe. So the regs were passed by a small Cttee at 8.55am last Thursday. But some obscure procedure was used to get a vote in the House, but without a debate. They were passed by 320 to 100 votes. Lib Dem MPs were in favour but the opposition was mainly from the Tories, though Cameron voted in favour.

TUESDAY 20th MARCH

Met with the Chair of Ealing, Hammersmith and West London FE College to discuss English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and a variety of other FE issues.

Later in the morning greeted Tammi and Heather, who are the two council staff members' co-ordinating Bristol's events to commemorate the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807. They were in Westminster today to watch the special House of Commons debate from 3.30 to 10pm on the slave trade. I gave them a tour of the Commons and the Lords while they were still open - Tuesday's chamber business starts at 2.30pm.

Both as a Bristol MP and a keen historian this was a debate in which I certainly wanted to speak. But some time ago I accepted an invitation from the Queen to attend an evening reception at Buckingham Palace. Normally it is necessary to be present for the whole debate if you wish to speak. So I explained my problem to the Speaker's office before the debate.

I sat through the opening speeches of John Prescott (who has overseen the government's role in this year's events) and his two shadows, William Hague and Vince Cable. But by 6pm I had not been called so left for the Palace.

There were about 150 MPs and other halves at the reception. We started in one large room upstairs where I admired the paintings, including a couple by one of my favourite artists, Canaletto. We were gradually filtered into a smaller room where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were standing just inside the doorway. A footman took my "presentation card" and read out my name and I shook hands with both of them and then went on to another room. When everyone had been processed the Queen mingled and talked to some groups. I was told by one of the staff that the best thing to do is to remind her of any visit she has made to your constituency. The only time I have personally seen the Queen before in Bristol was when I was Opposition Leader on the Council and she visited Aardman Animations after they had won an Oscar. So my first conversation with our monarch was about Wallace & Gromit! My colleague Martin Horwood was on safer ground as he could talk about Cheltenham race course...

At 8.15pm I took a taxi back to Parliament and went back into the chamber. The Deputy Speaker said he hoped to squeeze me in and I eventually spoke at just after 9pm. You can read what I said here:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070320/debtext/70320-0017.htm#07032088000116

After the end of the debate at 10pm I went to the Members' tea room for a late dinner of cheese on toast!

WEDNESDAY 21st MARCH

The morning meeting of Education Select Cttee continued our evidence on higher education with witnesses on the links between universities and business.

The political highlight of the day was the Budget, immediately after PMQs. Ming Campbell had asked Blair about the widening gap between the poor and rich. It was quite a prescient question as events turned out. Brown's last Budget had a rabbit in the hat of a 2p cut in income tax. But he also took away the 10p starting rate that benefits people with low incomes. David Cameron makes the first response to the Chancellor's speech. Rather like last year it was a rant devoid of content. He failed to spot (or maybe didn't care) that a tax cut for people on average earnings was being paid for partly by a tax rise for the poorest. Ming was able to draw attention to this in his response.

In the evening I went to the House of Lords. MPs are allowed to stand at the "bar" of the House to observe debates. The Lords (unlike the Commons) were having a full debate on the Sexual Orientation Regulations. Several other MPs watched too and we saw some excellent speeches (in particular from Labour Muslim peer Lord Ali) in defence of equality. Unfortunately there were also some pretty awful defenders of prejudice as well, including the Archbishop of York. But the regulations were passed by 168 to 122 and now become law.

THURSDAY 22nd MARCH

The Budget is now debated over several days with each day having a theme. This afternoon was education. The Lib Dem Education team, Sarah Teather, myself and Greg Mulholland took turns at "bench cover".

I did a couple of local radio interviews today about my work on bullying and also looking forward to Sunday's Abolition 200 events.

In the evening instead of catching a train back to Bristol I went by Tube to the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. I was a guest at the annual fundraising dinner of Stonewall. The security was very tight as the main speaker was one Tony Blair. It was interesting to see him outside a party political environment. He turned in a great performance and made the entirely fair point that Britain is a better place for gays after 10 years of his government.

The fundraising side of the dinner was an eye opener. Someone tried to get me to make offers for a painting, starting at £1,000. When the inevitable raffle ticket seller turned up at the table I was stunned to find that the tickets were £10 each and as everyone else bought at least five I ended up doing the same. Suddenly I missed Lib Dem events where tickets are usually £1 a strip! The auction that followed dinner led to the surprise (to me anyway) that someone bid £8,000 (yes eight thousand pounds) to have tea with Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo whereas an evening with John Barrowman, star of Doctor Who and Torchwood, went for a mere £6,000...

FRIDAY 23rd MARCH

I got home from the Dorchester at about 4am so making it to Paddington by 9am was quite an achievement! By 11.30am I was talking to children at SS Peter and Paul RC Primary School in Cotham. Then it was to Bedminster to meet with the NSPCC. We talked about their anti-bullying work in Bristol's schools.

After my surgery it was straight to the Students Union to make a speech and answer questions at the annual conference of Lib Dem Youth & Students. Young Lib Dems from all over the country have gathered in Bristol this weekend. I stayed with them until late into the evening eating take away pizzas. One of the downsides of my busy life is that I rarely have any food in the cupboard so I was glad of a chance to eat with the students.

SATURDAY 24th MARCH

I would dearly have loved a lie in today but instead I was off to Cardiff to do my stint helping in the Welsh Assembly election campaign. With my colleague Jenny Willott MP and Jenny Randserson AM (it would be strange to have two Stephens if we had a regional assembly!) plus the Leader of Cardiff Council (also run by the Lib Dems) we first went to the Orthodox Synagogue. I have never been to a Jewish service before and it was fascinating. Of the many cultural differences one that puzzled me was the tolerance of lots of chit chat during the service. Although it was an Orthodox congregation it was also much more jolly than I was expecting. Over the buffet lunch I was able to joke that my Welsh Baptist Chapel upbringing in Abercynon was quite different! We spent the afternoon canvassing. The party is hopeful of making gains in South Wales. As the Assembly has constituency and "List" seats for regions it is possible that my home village will finally get Lib Dem representation if we win a list seat in South Wales Central which covers Cardiff and the central valleys.

Back to Bristol and spend the evening...and early hours...with the LDYS people at their social event on Park Street.

SUNDAY 25th MARCH

Sleep deprivation over several days, plus rather a lot of alcohol did not make me happy about putting the clocks forward. I had another full day ahead of me today. At noon I was with about 50 others in Portland Square in St Pauls ringing a variety of bells. This was the exact time of the signing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act by George III in 1807. We also sung all 6 verses of Amazing Grace, the hymn written by the repentant slave trader John Newton "Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I see."

From St Pauls to Clifton for the Lib Dem monthly curry club at the excellent Bombay Dreams.

Then down to College Green for one of the main Abolition 200 events of the year. About a thousand people gathered in the cathedral for a service. I've been to many services in the cathedral before but this was like no other. The service began with an African cultural procession. The singing was led by a brilliant gospel choir. There was Amazing Grace again and a foot tapping rendition of "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.....Glory, glory Halleluiah! His truth is marching on." There were also some readings and homilies including one from Shirley Marshall, Lib Dem cllr for Ashley ward and Bristol's only councillor of Afro-Caribbean origin.

After the service (which lasted about 2 hours) there was a reception in the Council House.

In the evening I walked down to the Plantation Restaurant on Cheltenham Road. They were laying on a special party with Caribbean food and entertainment. There were poetry readings, music and dancing...and eventually I was persuaded to get up and dance!

Home at 10.30pm, rather wanting to collapse in a heap but instead have written this, just for you. SO if you've read this far, I hope you agree that I've had an interesting week. Parliament breaks for Easter recess at the end of the coming week and I'm looking forward to a relax in the pace of life!