The postman arrived with a letter from the House of Commons. It was from Jack Lopresti MP to whom I had written to confirm that he would be voting for the Assisted Dying Bill. The reply was and was not exactly what I was expecting.
I was expecting devout Roman Catholic Jack to vote against the Bill, but in a long, rambling standard letter, written and issued, I suspect, to constituents of like-minded Tory MPs up and down the land, he didn’t actually say he voted at all. The letter did say that he was against Assisted Dying though, so it is safe to assume that he either voted against it or he didn’t bother to attend parliament at all.
I should have expected nothing more and nothing else. With the notable exception of Doug Naysmith, the former MP for whatever my constituency used to be called, this is how my MPs have always acted, right from Tony Benn, Jonathan Sayeed and William “Et Tu” Waldegrave. Bog standard letters, personally signed, with just the first name. I’ll bet they never even read the correspondence but then I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack Lopresti could read any long letter or document in the first place.
I have seen and been in correspondence with Mr Lopresti on numerous occasions over the years and each time I wonder why I bother. He listens carefully and then sends some bland, generic reply on the lines of Conservative Party policy and that’s that. He might just as well be honest and say that as I am naturally a Labour man, I needn’t in future waste my time or his. This time I have come to the conclusion that I will not waste my time wasting his, not until next time anyway.
We’re going to carry on letting people live lives they no longer wish to live, often in agony and distress, because that’s what the politicians say.
I knew what you would say, Jack, but it was no less dispiriting when your letter arrived.
