Last week it came out that Mrs Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, had had extra marital sexual relations with Tory councillor, James Dinsdale, ten years her junior. Dubbed one of “Cameron’s Cuties”, Mrs Nokes took the seat from long standing Liberal Democrat Sandra Gidley and was alleged to have been planning to make her maiden speech the day the story came out. Having already taken the Westminster 2010 Declaration of Christian conscience, many local residents were upset and appalled at the affair, in part because Mrs Nokes had fought her election campaign, personally supported by the Prime Minister, on the basis of maintaining strong family values.
Whilst this media flurry does of course come with the job of being an MP, to me this actually seems a private and personal issue. Yet, the aspect of this story that I found most appalling is the alleged text Mrs Nokes had sent Mr Dinsdale, whilst sitting in the Commons in a debate on political reform. The text read that she was “bored to death in Parliament”.
This is literally one of the most shocking things I have ever heard in my life. Nokes gained a 6.6% Conservative swing and over a 4,000 majority and yes she has a degree in Political Science and a history of politics in her family. But how anyone whom has fought long and hard to win an election, can within only a few weeks into her term claim they are “bored” whilst in a political reform debate is completely beyond my understanding. Local residents have gone out of their way to canvass for her, whether just displaying a small poster or helping her with door-stopping, and the most political spirit she can muster up is boredom.
Frankly, there are people in the constituency that would be absolutely delighted at the thought of being able to sit in on a Commons debate on political reform. What kind of an example is she setting to Romsey and Southampton teenagers? Her text certainly sounds like something a fifteen year old might send to a friend in a school assembly. In fact there are a few fifteen year olds in the town that I’m sure would relish sitting in on that debate and would do it a hundred times less half-heartedly than Nokes.
