Author: Purple Brolly

Members of Parliament (MPs) are expected to be available to meet individual members of their constituency to advise and assist where possible. For many MPs this is weekly, for an hour or two on a Friday at a library or a community centre, and this will be publicised on the MP’s website or in the local newspapers.

These sessions are called ‘MPs’ surgeries‘, in a parallel with a doctor being available for consultation. It is often necessary to make an appointment for a 10-minute slot, but less high-profile MPs may decide to skip this. Some MPs have strict rules on attendance at surgeries (especially after the brutal murder of MP Sir David Amess at his surgery in 2021) ~ bags and briefcases may be banned and full details of the discussion point may be requested beforehand to allow the MP to prepare.

Appropriate issues to raise are matters of perceived unfair treatment by the law or the government’s policies, or putting forward a policy suggestion that would benefit others. An MP may take up a case if they feel it is warranted, via their privileged access, or they may be able to write a pertinent letter to an organisation on your behalf.

(Image: pxhere.com)

Baroness Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was a force for change in the UK throughout the 1980s, such that the term ‘Thatcherism’ is applied to her political legacy. Born in Lincolnshire, Margaret Thatcher attended Oxford University and became a research chemist, then a tax barrister, before being elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament in 1959. Twenty years later, she became the UK’s first female Prime Minister.

Due to her self-assured leadership style she was dubbed ‘the Iron Lady’, a term which she used to her advantage. She was a deep thinker and took great care in reaching an informed opinion. She was Prime Minister for three consecutive terms from 1979 to 1990, the longest period for any PM in the 20th century.

Under her premiership, the UK experienced the privatisation of state-owned utilities, the sale of council houses, the Falklands Conflict, the closure of coal mines, the saving of grammar schools and deregulation of the financial sector. Her stand against a European Union ~ a federal Europe ~ and a European currency eventually saw her resign, but her arguments still resonate today:-

“What is the point of trying to get elected to Parliament only to hand over Sterling and the powers of this House to Europe?”

(Image: Levan Ramishvili at Flickr.com / Public domain)