… “With so many people in Government, you could replace them with laptop computers and it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference. You could just programme them to vote when you needed them to vote. But I couldn’t do that. I would rather not be in politics at all.”
Would he say that Parliament is rotten? “I would. It’s completely rotten. I’ve seen people deliver genuinely powerful speeches on particular issues, then the bell goes for the vote and they go straight to the government lobby.” Does David Cameron find him irritating? “I’m sure he does,” Goldsmith says with a wry smile. “And I don’t blame him.” …
… If Goldsmith could achieve one thing during his time in Parliament, then it would be implementing a proper recall system, giving constituents the right to get rid of their MP if he or she behaves badly. “At the moment, I could go on holiday for eight months or join the BNP. I could do almost anything, bar go to prison, and there would be nothing my constituents could do about it.”
Currently, Nick Clegg is overseeing the reform of the recall system – no laughing at the back about the decision to give the job to a man who backtracked on several key promises the moment he got a whiff of power – and though the Deputy PM claimed in June that he and Goldsmith were in agreement, this is clearly not the case at all. Goldsmith says that Clegg’s proposals are a “disgrace” in his view.
“For a long time, he argued against the whole principle of recall, saying that we would end up with kangaroo courts. So he has come up with an alternative, which really is the last word in con. It’s an attempt to make people feel that they have been empowered without actually empowering them. There is enough anger out there from the public towards me and all my colleagues in Parliament, and the moment the public realise they have been conned yet again, I think it will just boil over. I think there will be a massive backlash.”
“So Goldsmith has set up a cross-party group to come up with an alternative plan – Andrew Mitchell, Kate Hoey and David Davis are involved – and they are just about to sign it off. Whether or not it goes through is another matter entirely, though it is said that the new Chief Whip, Michael Gove, is very keen to show his support for it, and not just because it might be one in the eye for Clegg. Goldsmith, of course, couldn’t possibly comment on that.” …
East Devon Watch 