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Jamie
Reed, grandson to the
late well known union boss, Thompson Reed, romped home in May
2005 with a 6,300 majority for Labour in the general election.
He netted over 17,000 votes.
A Day in the Life of our MP in 2006
DESPITE truly frenetic 16
hour working days, Jamie Reed clearly misses his young family
back home in Whitehaven. Calls every evening to the children cannot
make up for the Copeland MP’s working time in the ‘village’
of Westminster Palace.
When Jack – now Lord – Cunningham had risen to the top
of the greasy pole at Westminster, his palatial offices on a prominent
corner of Portcullis House were the envy of many colleagues. In
contrast Mr Reed’s office at No 1 Parliament Street are a
far more modest eight foot wide working unit, enlivened by a Haven
RL shirt and finger-paintings by his children proudly on show.
Mr Reed points out, with a certain pride, that a previous tenant
of his office was one Right Honourable Gordon Brown.
I chose to shadow our MP on what turned out to be a far from routine
day. For it was the day in the July heat that he and his researcher
Carl Carter saw as the culmination of over 12 months’ work
– the announcement of the government’s pro-nuclear leaning
energy review.
To say that the phones (two mobiles and one landline) never stopped
ringing would be an understatement. Only one week in four can
the MP have use of his researcher, so I cannot imagine how he
copes when manning his Westminster base single-handed.
From his small flat in Islington, Jamie usually travels on the
Tube in his shorts and tee-shirt in order to cope with the near
tropical heat of a rush hour Underground in high summer. While
still in his shorts he deals with that morning’s hundreds
of emails and letters before change into suit and tie to research
and take part in detailed debates on the Defra select committee
he serves on.
“You have to spend time in advance researching the necessary
fact and figures or you will not be able to make the contribution
you have to,” he says.
At the back of every young MP’s mind must be the division
bell. “When the bell goes, the whips expect MPs to drop everything
and get themselves in eight minutes to cast their votes through
the division lobbies.”
The urgency of this rule can be seen on every lift in the vast
Westminster machine: Only for use by MPs when a division bell
has rung.
The thousands of tourists walking past Big Ben are unaware of
the underground tunnel connecting MPs’ offices in the new
Portcullis House to Westminster. MPs are frequently seen sprinting
along the passage to meet their obligations to cast their votes.
This underground passage is a constant hubbub of politicians.
For my visit I felt like a trainspotter collecting sightings...
there goes David Blunkett... isn’t that Michael Howard?...
oh, and laughing in the corner over there, the Beast of Bolsover
himself, Dennis Skinner.
It is the same wherever you go in the Westminster village: sitting
to eat in the heavily subsidised MP restaurant (delicious meals
for just £2 a sitting!) you glance across and there’s
Charles Clarke, looking a bit more relaxed now he is no longer
shouldering the Home Office job.
Aside from his committee work Mr Reed also has to try to get a
chance to speak up on the floor of the House of Commons on behalf
of Copeland.
We have all seen the seasoned pro’s such as Blair and Cameron
hold forth in perhaps the toughest debating chamber in the world
– but Jamie Reed is starting to find his feet after his maiden
speech referring to himself as a Star Wars Jedi Knight didn’t
quite hit the spot for some MPs.
He confesses to a justifiable weariness at the public schoolboy
japes of some MPs.
“We are changing things here, but I am still among the minority
of MPs that have come from a Northern comprehensive schooling,”
he says.
In the agenda to modernise the way UK PLC is run, Jamie is proud
to be the chairman of a group of Labour’s bright young MPs
in the 05 Group. This is obviously nothing to do with the Stagecoach
05 route to Mirehouse, but a group of progressive MPs who are
working towards their own progressive manifesto due to be published
later this year.
Jamie provides another hint at his socialist leanings by his references
to his admiration for Kier Hardie and the relish with which he
showed me the original Westminster Hall where he pointed out “that
is the spot where their tried King Charles I before sealing his
fate.”
I sense that our MP leans towards the Labour Party as opposed
to New Labour, which could perhaps hark back to Jamie’s late
grandfather, Thompson Reed. Thompson Reed was the GMB union leader
for Whitehaven regarded by many of his generation as the “best
MP we never had”. Rumour has it Thompson Reed graciously
stood aside to allow a certain Jack Cunningham to bid for the
old Whitehaven seat back in 1970.
A tour of Westminster passes many areas where only MPs can pass,
including the MPs cloakroom where there are pink ribbons dangling.
“Those are for members to hang their swords up,” he
says. A throwback to a previous age, perhaps, but perfectly true.
In fact next time you see Messrs Blair and Cameron slug it out
on the news you might notice red lines in the carpet in front
of the two frontbenches. These lines are deliberately just over
two sword lengths apart, to symbolise that arguments in the House
are fought by words, not swords.
It is obvious that meeting key decision-makers at Westminster
is a vital element in the MP’s job and while I am there Mr
Reed has talks with academics from Lancaster University who are
exploring the possibilities of having a medical faculty linked
to the proposed new hospital for West Cumbria.
He explained afterwards: “Imagine how wonderful it would
be in terms of recruiting and retaining staff if the new hospital
were a teaching hospital. It may not come to fruition, but all
these ideas have to be acted on and developed. The more irons
in the fire, the greater the chances of success for Copeland.”
Amidst all these meetings, votes and number-crunching research,
one of the few oases of calm for Mr Reed and the other MPs are
the terrace gardens outside their offices: not the famous terrace
overlooking the Thames but the small garden terraces outside the
MP offices. The terrace overlooking the Thames is certainly a
relaxing spot to enjoy the dramatic view across to the London
Eye, but it is not necessarily a relaxing spot as MPs never miss
a chance to cajole and press the flesh seeking votes or support.
It looks as if no working MPs needs a brief moments to recharge
their batteries. I am sure it was not done for my benefit but
I was impressed to see MP Reed and his researcher still hammering
the emails out until 9pm that evening... just an hour’s down
time till the Tube ride back to his flat. Just time for a pint
at the Red Lion Inn where, yet again, the air is thick with MPs
wheeling and dealing... Parliament never sleeps.
Oh and the question everyone wonders about, what is the salary
for this demanding honour? £60,000. Would we begrudge it
if just half the projects being pushed forward on our behalf come
to fruition?