So who are the 'good' MPs?

ToneControl

fftc said:

Flanging_Fred said:

fftc said:

Caroline Lucas.

For what reason? 

I'm politically pretty uneducated and I think it's time to do something about it.  I need something positive to look for not simply rejecting the stuff I don't like the sound of (which is MUCH easier).

She is honest, has the courage of her convictions and her convictions are not those of a self absorbed sociopath.

I don't think she has been tested in any way - typically, pressure-group parties don't have to make tricky decisions or be whipped to vote with their party 

Some Green policies are pretty dodgy btw, I wonder if she honestly supports them all?

ToneControl

stimpsonslostson said:

Mhairi Black has been quite impressive for a single term (thus far) MP. 
Her maiden speech was good, the comments about funding Westminster/Buckingham Palace refurbishments were too, though the favourite has to be the "you talk shite hen" incident.
Although I don't agree with the SNP policies on many issues, she seems passionate and a breath of fresh air.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/snp-mhairi-black-video-conservative-minister-caroline-nokes-tory-hen-commons-scottish-footage-a7618706.html

I completely disagree
I've heard nothing original in her comments, and far too much rhetoric

How is this amount of rhetoric coming from a politician "a breath of fresh air"?

ToneControl

Claire Short seemed pretty honest, and Tony Benn

Flanging_Fred

ToneControl said:

Claire Short seemed pretty honest, and Tony Benn

Neither them are current MPs.

Nitefly

sweepy said:

Mhairi Black and Denis Skinner to name but two

Wasn't she the one who was going to "put the nut" on someone or other?

Flanging_Fred

mellowsun said:

My previous  MP (Nick Dubois) was very good. Did a lot for constituents, always replied to emails and tweets and was very visible and he got a lot done.

He was a Tory but as a Left/Green voter I could have voted for him because he really did represent his constituents.

He got voted out at the last election and now we have a Labour MP but unfortunately one who is absolutely useless.

Any idea if he is likely to run again?

hywelg

If Frank Field was my local labour candidate I'd vote for him even though I never vote labour. 

Ken Clarke is a decent  chap and is my MP, but his decision to stand again having said he would stand down at the next election is causing me some concern as his motivation is likely to try and stop Brexit happening. Which I would struggle to support.

EricTheWeary

My MP is James Morris, Conservative. I can't tell you a great deal about him but I've had a couple of bits to do with him and he seemed positive to me. We have a hung council with UKIP holding the balance of power and he has been prepared to go head to head on their more stupid decisions.
Our previous MP was Labour and, again, just a good local MP whom I had dealings with through work (and there is a picture on our fridge of her giving an award to my youngest son). I'm glad not to have a 'name' politician locally. 

I think I've mentioned before that I used to work with someone who is now a bit of a celeb MP and she was always someone who seemed very driven and ambitious, I don't know if that's a good thing in an MP or not. 

Heartfeltdawn

hywelg said:

If Frank Field was my local labour candidate I'd vote for him even though I never vote labour. 

Ken Clarke is a decent  chap and is my MP, but his decision to stand again having said he would stand down at the next election is causing me some concern as his motivation is likely to try and stop Brexit happening. Which I would struggle to support.

You have his motivation entirely wrong. When he said he would stand down at the next election, he assumed that would be 2020, thus giving him a few more years. As his party leader has scuppered the 2020 election, then he's entirely right to say he will stand this year and continue his work. One suspects that he will then stand down as MP well before the 2022 election. 

ICBM

Clarke is also one of the few who actually had the guts to go with his conscience and vote against it, despite the much larger number who were actually privately against.

I can't say much good about my local (SNP) MP, unfortunately. He's typical of the hypocrisy and one-party-state behaviour redolent of the old Scottish Labour Party which the SNP has grasped with both hands in a remarkably short space of time.

Axe_meister

Pity Louise Mensch is not longer an MP.

Axe_meister

I've always had alot of time for Ruth Davidson, She always comes across well in debates.

ICBM

Axe_meister said:

I've always had alot of time for Ruth Davidson, She always comes across well in debates.

She's an MSP not an MP though. It's also unfortunate that she's a Tory, or I might like her more...

Heartfeltdawn

Axe_meister said:

Pity Louise Mensch is not longer an MP.

Masochist. 

57Deluxe

Frank Ifield - the singing Politician...

mellowsun

Flanging_Fred said:

mellowsun said:

My previous  MP (Nick Dubois) was very good. Did a lot for constituents, always replied to emails and tweets and was very visible and he got a lot done.

He was a Tory but as a Left/Green voter I could have voted for him because he really did represent his constituents.

He got voted out at the last election and now we have a Labour MP but unfortunately one who is absolutely useless.

Any idea if he is likely to run again?

He hasn't said yet. A lot of people are asking on Twitter though. He said he'll let people know soon.

HAL9000

Flanging_Fred said:

HAL9000 said:

Unfortunately, I'd struggle to think of anything any politician has done that would make me trust them.

Isn't that incredibly sad? Surely out of the 650 MPs in the house of Commons, some of them are competent, hard working, doing their best for the people they are elected to represent and are well meaning.

I'm sure you're right, and I guess it will always be the bad ones that make the news. Things like an illegal war, cash for questions, fiddling expenses, voting for increased university fees, etc does make me wonder about the honesty and competence of politicians generally.

Philly_Q

It's very hard to answer the question who are the "good" MPs, which seems a sad indictment, but on the other hand that doesn't mean they're "bad" either, apart from some obvious stuff about expenses scandals and the like.

I guess most of us don't really know if our MPs are any good or not unless we've had reason to deal with them personally.  Some come across OK on the radio and TV, we can look at their voting records etc but that doesn't tell the whole story.

My MP is Chuka Umunna, I think of him as not much more than an archetypal champagne socialist type but he might do loads of good work in the constituency for all I know.

Heartfeltdawn

Philly_Q said:

It's very hard to answer the question who are the "good" MPs, which seems a sad indictment, but on the other hand that doesn't mean they're "bad" either, apart from some obvious stuff about expenses scandals and the like.

I guess most of us don't really know if our MPs are any good or not unless we've had reason to deal with them personally.  Some come across OK on the radio and TV, we can look at their voting records etc but that doesn't tell the whole story.

My MP is Chuka Umunna, I think of him as not much more than an archetypal champagne socialist type but he might do loads of good work in the constituency for all I know.

The question is hard to answer because the good work MPs do is so seldom covered in the media. Generally the work done by committees is only covered when it's some arch tosser in front of them like Phillip Green or Mike Ashley. My time in local government demonstrated that the best work local councillors did came in scrutiny committees. That's where the debate and the true examination occurs. Parliament has a Scrutiny Unit that offers expertise to committees and other functions. 

Flanging_Fred

These last two posts are part of the reason I asked the question.  The media is very good at digging up dirt and screaming from the rooftops when something bad happens. The political parties 'big up ' themselves so can't be trusted. So how on earth are regular jo bloggs like me supposed to vote in any kind of informed positive way?

The only real way is for people/me to put in rather a lot of effort to simply drown out the din off everyone else's opinion, get some research done and come to some kind of informed political decision. I think most people simply can't be bothered to put that much effort into something that generally pisses them off (like I have in the past). The result is this boaty McBoatface political clusterffuck we've ended up in now.

So thanks for the listed MPs. It'll give me a starting point to actually look at and try and work out how to vote for someone I actually want rather than voting against something I don't want.

Am I making any sense? Sorry for rambling if not...