One Way Discussion With My MP
Barry Sheerman is the MP for Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and my local MP. I've never written to an MP before now. As I was rather annoyed that my government wasn't calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon I thought I would finally do something about it. Yeah the revolution starts with an email - that'll scare em.
So on the 22/7/2006 I sent the following email:
On the 24/7/2006 I recieved the following reply:
Ok, so on the 22/7/2006 I sent the following:
Alright, I'll accept that so I respond with my address on the 28/7/2006
So by now I'm eagerly awaiting my response.
Still waiting, and waiting..............and waiting.
Got fed up and sent the following mail on the 2/8/2006
So on the 22/7/2006 I sent the following email:
Dear Sir, as one of your constituents I would like to know if you agree with the government and believe a cease fire would do no good for the people of of South Lebanon?
On the 24/7/2006 I recieved the following reply:
Please provide your full postal address to enable Mr Sheerman to reply
to your email.
Kind regards,
Parliamentary Researcher to Barry Sheerman MP
--
Ok, so on the 22/7/2006 I sent the following:
--, on the whole i'm usually quite happy to comply, however, before I doTo which I recived the following response on the 27/7/2006
could you please explain why you need my postal address before my
consituency MP is willing to respond to a simple question?
Parliamentary protocol means that MPs can only follow up the concerns of
their own constituents. We therefore require your full postal address
so that we can establish whether you are a constituent.
Kind regards,
Alright, I'll accept that so I respond with my address on the 28/7/2006
[address, yeah like i'm going to put that on the web]
So by now I'm eagerly awaiting my response.
Still waiting, and waiting..............and waiting.
Got fed up and sent the following mail on the 2/8/2006
I'm very disappointed not to have received a response after providing you with my address. Given the passage of time could you please arrange for an answer to a slightly different question. Does Barry Sherman support the Prime Ministers stance on the Israeli/Lebanese war. Does he believe that Tony Blair is/was correct not to call for an immediate ceasefire?Guess what? I'm still waiting to hear from Mr Barry Sherman.
I would appreciate it if you could arrange to have my questions answered promptly.
Thank You.
posted by gerbil at 6:04 pm
5 Comments:
Don't hold your breath, waiting for Sheerman to contact you.
I emailed him on 16/06/04 :
"Dear Mr Sheerman
I would be grateful if you would clarify a number of points for me.
1. How did you vote 26/02/03 and 18/03/03 regarding Iraq and why?
2. Was the Iraq 'war' legal and justified?
3. And in the absence of WMD and 'dodgy' dossiers was the war which created needless bloodshed on all sides a mistake?
4. Is the British PM right to constantly follow the lead in tone and direction of the US President?
5. Aside from the semantics of Messrs Hoon and Ingram, what is your view of the torture pictures published in the media?
6. What is your view and who have you communicated it to, regarding the Guantánamo prisoners who are being denied their rights under the Geneva Convention at the behest of the US outside its own laws?
7. Do you believe that Messrs Bush and Blair are the 'honest brokers' that they style themselves as, in the wider conflict in the Middle East?
8. Is the world a safer place today than say at the beginning of 2003?
I have no sympathy for terrorism, despotism etc and I do not care which side it comes from - no matter what colour/ religion/ etc anybody follows. What I do care passionately about is right is right, wrong is wrong.
I hope that you answer the above questions specifically.
Yours Sincerely"
and he emailed a month later(!) on 16/07:
"Dear
You will know that I voted with my Party in support of the Prime Minister in regard to the intervention in Iraq. This does not mean that I was not deeply concerned about the issue and talked to the Prime Minister privately and in public to suggest that a hasty resort to war was inadvisable. In recent weeks, I have also been able to meet the PM to discuss his role in mediating in the Middle East and urged him to bring his influence to bear on President Bush. My concerns on Guantanamo Bay are a matter of public record.
We should bear in mind, however, that a cruel and despotic leader has been removed from power in Iraq and that country is now on course to democratic elections and independent self rule. I hope that you and I can agree that is what we want for the country.
Yours sincerely,
Barry Sheerman MP"
Google Sheerman and Guantanamo, etc. Aside from not answering the questions, the guy is a prize waste of time.
Jav, glad to see you got such a comprehensive answer. You must feel so privliged to be so well informed by his lordship. I guess i'll get my popcorn and get comfy for the wait.
But rest assured I will publish his response when I get it. I know its not much but the more the spotlight is put on these people hopefully it might have an impact.
I first started reading your blog when you posted "He Works For Me.....I'm Doomed". I couldn't believe this prat MP of ours.
More power to you, mate.
You ARE making a difference.
Keep up the good work.
Great blog.
I've got a good one about MP's responses to emails:
In the run up to the vote on the Iraq war I emailed my MP (Cons, Eastbourne) asking him which way he intended to vote, and telling him that my view was that he should vote against and asking him to take that into consideration (which I thought was fair enough seeing as he's supposed to represent me - along with his other constituents of course*). I know he (or at least his secretary) received the email, because like you I got a reply asking for my address. Having supplied that I waited patiently for a proper reply, but never got one. Then last year, as I was clearing out my email folders, I came across the email I'd sent (saved for posterity you know) and went to delete it. But I accidentally hit send and off it went. Within 24 hours I had a belittlingly-toned reply from my newly responsive MP querying why I was asking him about a vote that had taken place a couple of years ago (so ok, it was a bit silly hitting send), and generally justifying his decision to vote in favour of it (even though the situation in Iraq was apparently getting grimmer by the day, and everyone in the world except King TB had accepted the whole premise of the war was false)!
* Incidentally, he did admit in the local rag to having voted in favour of the war even though most of the correspondence he received on the matter was against it.
You have to love this thing called democracy
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