A Week in Parliament

The end of May through to the end of June is peak gala/event season. It means my Saturdays in particular are very busy trying to get out and about to as many as possible. It is a great way to be out and about in the constituency speaking to people and volunteers. I know how much work goes into these events – people working all year to plan a one day/afternoon event. It is important therefore that they get the support of the local communities and from what I have seen this year, this is still well and truly the case.

My season kicked off with Mauchline Holy Fair and that same day I popped into Celebrate Kilmarnock’s Family Fun Day. The next Saturday saw me at Dunlop Gala, Newmilns Cattle Show and seeing off the fantastic group of kids doing a sponsored walk from Galston to Darvel to raise funds for Kyle Ritchie. The following week was Galston Gala Day and I took so long there unfortunately I never managed to make it to Fenwick. The same happened the following week where I had a great time at Stewarton Bonnet Guild but by the time I got to Crosshouse their fun day was finished and I only managed a photograph of the last marquees being taken down!

My next challenge is trying to do the Lapraik festival in Muirkirk, Hurlford Gala Day and Stewarton Beer Festival on the one day. I look forward to these and other events and attending a beer festival is just one of the sacrifices I have to make in my role as MP!

That Leadership Contest

So the next UK Prime Minister will ultimately be chosen by the elderly, right wing Tory Party membership of some 120,000 or so people. This also means that it is hard to see anyone other than Boris Johnson become Prime Minister. This is a man sacked from the Times newspaper for making stuff up in an article he wrote. Sacked as a shadow minister for lying to party bosses. Terrible as Foreign Secretary. He is also clearly anti-Scottish – he was the one who proclaimed a pound spent in Croydon is of more value to the country than a pound spent in Strathclyde. It has emerged he was the editor of The Spectator who published an anti-Scottish poem which calls for the extermination of the verminous Scots. It is no wonder that some Scottish Conservative MPs launched a campaign to try and derail him before the vacancy arose. They chose to call this “Operation ar*e”. When this became public it wasn’t denied and indeed was referred to by Ross Thompson who has always been a Johnson acolyte. Yet despite this and his other failings, such as lying about Brexit, more Scottish Tory MPs are now backing him. Suddenly, both Ruth Davidson and David Mundell find that they can work with him despite previously announcing they could never do such a thing. It seems hypocrisy is one thing they have in common with our future Prime Minister. A Boris premiership is certainly not what I would call a Union Dividend.

These views were first expressed in the Kilmarnock Standard.