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Green MP Proposes Sweeping Reforms to House of Commons in Maiden Speech

by Sean Walsh
27 July 2024 7:00 PM

I have a confession to make. Prior to her recent Commons tour de force, I was culpably unaware of the achievements (and existence) of Dr. Ellie Chowns, the recently elected Green Party MP for North Herefordshire.

Dr. Chowns (an expert in “factors influencing sustainability in Malawi’s rural water supply sector”) has caused quite the stir on social media following a maiden speech in which she suggested several “improvements” to the procedures of the House of Commons, intended to increase the efficiency of the legislative process. Felicitously – and doubtless coincidentally – these would also increase the comfort and convenience of Honourable and Right Honourable members themselves. Who’d a thunk it?

Her suggestions include: the abolition of the lobby tradition and its replacement by a system of electronic voting; less “bobbing up and down” in often forlorn attempts to catch the Speaker’s eye; that provision be made for allocated desks (Dr. Chowns finds it “extraordinary” that there is insufficient room for all MPs – I can only assume she’s never tuned in to watch a debate on vaccine harms); and the replacement of daily Christian prayer (not appropriate “for this day and age”) with something more representative of “a range of faiths”. And none, presumably. Perhaps in Green Utopia, MPs will be sworn in while gripping a well-thumbed copy of Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion.

Is it stuffy of me to find all this a bit discourteous? The Commons is a centuries-old institution, which has navigated its fair share of bother and whose members are guests, not freeholders. Would Dr. Chowns accept an invitation to a dinner party only to insist on changing the “old-fashioned decor”? Would she presume to rewrite grace?

I very much fear that she might.

I have no wish to improve the comfort of MPs; no desire to make the execution of their parliamentary responsibilities more convenient; and I am horrified at the very suggestion that we should improve the efficiency of the legislative process. What good ever comes of yet more laws? The opportunity to make a law should be like the opportunity to own a gun: it should present itself only in exigent circumstances. And never to the people most eager to make use of it. To be fair to Dr. Chowns, she cut her teeth in the EU Potemkin Parliament, an expensive caricature of the democratic ideal, and a body which is forbidden by the EU nomenklatura of initiating any legislation not handed to it via European Commission stitch-up. Doubtless, she is chomping at the bit.

The inconveniences that attend Commons procedures are, in fact, quite benign. The lobby interactions facilitate unlikely cross-party friendships; and the seemingly interminable waiting around between votes reminds MPs that they are part of something bigger than themselves – a reality check that many, if not all, of them should find salutary. The traditions of the House serve to put them in their rightful place.

The Green Party’s reformist instinct is an expression of progressive beliefs which are at least honestly held (one might contrast them with the convenient progressivism of the One Nation milquetoast “Tories” and their doomed quest for an imaginary “centre ground” – but that’s another discussion). But the instinct to reform all too frequently is supplanted by the instinct to change for the sake of it.

The House of Commons should not serve as an experiment in progressivism. The fit is not right. The traditions of Parliament are tried and tested remnants of a history we have no business unpicking. For what will replace it? The progressive reformist is a bit like that person who would gladly travel back in time to assassinate Hitler, oblivious to the fact that they are thereby risking a present which may be many times worse than the one history has gifted to us.

This perhaps, then, is the primary conceit of the progressive worldview: that its modern certainties are any sort of match for, and indeed should supersede, the lessons of history. The House of Commons exercises good manners and will find a way to accommodate that conceit because, despite not having individual desks, it always does. But it should not bend to it. 

On that latter point, though, I am less optimistic. Now that the Mrs. Dutt-Pauker types have migrated from the columns of Peter Simple and inserted themselves into public life we’re in for a bumpy ride.  

Tags: Ellie ChownsGreen PartyHouse of CommonsPoliticsTradition

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25 Comments
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago

Somewhat tangential to this article, but it strikes me that in the US there are some right of centre media outlets and personalities with big followings. I just don’t see the same in the UK. Perhaps I just don’t know enough about the UK media but where is the UK’s Daily Wire, or Joe Rogan, or Jordan Peterson, or Fox News, or Tucker Carlson, or Ben Shapiro – I don’t mean just entities with similar opinions but similar budgets and followings.

16
0
Brett_McS
Brett_McS
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

GB News is pretty good. Mark Steyn has a regular spot, and he freely takes aim at the kill shots -er- Covid Vaccines in his wonderful satirical way. Neil Oliver is also an excellent contributor.

30
-1
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  Brett_McS

I’ve seen Oliver and yes he’s tremendous and I’m sure Steyn is too, but ask the man in the street who they are and most won’t have a clue. Ask the same question in the US and most will know who Tucker Carlson is. That’s the difference.

14
-1
Brett_McS
Brett_McS
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Neil Oliver is a household name.

17
-2
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  Brett_McS

I strongly doubt that but I will ask everyone I know whether they have heard of him.
My wife hasn’t heard of him and she has even watched at least one video clip of him.
Tucker Carlson has twenty times the following on Twitter compared to Oliver, and the US population is not 20x the UK
Fox News is mainstream, GB News is far from that.

9
0
Brett_McS
Brett_McS
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Known for various BBC shows like this:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1842562/

2
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  Brett_McS

I had only heard of him because of his anti lockdown stance

Where are the British equivalents of Jordan Peterson or Joe Rogan? I mean in terms of their following. The political right in the U.K. is more or less dead because it’s ostensibly represented by a political party whose leaders despise their base and are largely globalist socialists.

15
0
EppingBlogger
EppingBlogger
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

In the UK the BBC is a dominant broadcaster. Newspapers are controlled by owners and editors who are fully paid up to the political class so don’t expect any push-back from them.

13
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  EppingBlogger

Indeed
The BBC is a hugely bad influence
GB News is a start, hope it galvanises something

17
0
crisisgarden
crisisgarden
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

That’s what Naomi Wolf was saying recently about the UK, which she worries about more than the US for that exact reason. We have such a homogenised media; GB News goes some way to addressing this but if you ask me, nowhere near far enough.

5
0
Judy Watson
Judy Watson
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Could try Alex Belfield.org.

Yes it’s pay per month or you can watch a censored freebie on youtube.

2
0
Brett_McS
Brett_McS
2 years ago

You don’t have to guess about DW’s neutral stance if you have seen “Run, Hide, Fight” and/or “Shut In”. As an indication, those two, along with “Terror on the Prairie” have strong female leads. The earlier film “Arroyo” is politically neutral. The common thread is that none try to shoehorn reality into a political message.
The DW audience is not huge, but it is very active, conservative and family-oriented. I’m guessing there would be a large percentage of Disney subscribers amongst them who are about to jump ship, and bring a lot of their friends and extended family with them.
The other smart thing DW has done is to refuse to take investors’ money. They live by subscription only so that they can control their content.

11
0
Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
2 years ago

Steve Mcqeen where art thou 🥺

6
0
Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
2 years ago
Reply to  Freddy Boy

Where art “U” seeing as I missed it from McQueen , it is early though 🤦🏼‍♂️

9
0
ebygum
ebygum
2 years ago

The first paragraph is exactly what I think about Convid. There’s the actual evidence….then there’s the ‘safe and effective, everyone get a booster’…based more on wishful thinking than anything else. Two entirely different ‘worlds’….

I saw a Tweet from JK Rowling yesterday…someone has tweeted her picture, with her address on, then overlaid it with a ‘how to’ bomb making manual, and a picture of a pipe bomb…..and guess what? As she pointed out, the account is still active and this isn’t considered enough to get you taken off Twitter?!

22
0

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