The Spectator’s Notes | 11 August 2012

Departing as Conservative MP for Corby, Louise Mensch writes a ‘letter of resignation’ to the Prime Minister. Why? Being an MP is not a government post: she is not a minister. An MP should write to his or her constituents and/or the chairman of the constituency association. It is constitutionally wrong for Mrs Mensch to write to Mr Cameron, except perhaps a private note of apology for inflicting a by-election on his party.  But the fact that she did write such a letter accurately reflects why she is an MP. David Cameron made her one, through his A-list system of imposing preferred candidates. Her departure exposes the dangers of this type of intervention by the party leader. The A-list is a form of patronage, and patronage arouses expectations of more favours. These have not been forthcoming. The demands of the coalition mean that A-listers have not been given glittering prizes. They find, to their consternation, that they are ‘merely’ MPs. This makes them resent the patron who has failed them.

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No doubt if I were Member for Corby, had three young children and had fairly recently married the manager of the rock group Metallica, who lives in New York, I would apply for the Chiltern Hundreds with alacrity. One is only human. But Mrs Mensch’s story does raise the question of whether all this glamour and talent are really suitable for Parliament. Representing the people is essentially quite dour. Those who are good at it often have large egos, but they do accept that they must undergo tedium and disappointment, and, in an odd way, find those things rewarding. Young Margaret Roberts stood in two elections in a safe Labour seat, and then, after marrying glamorous Major Thatcher (divorcee, fast car, company owner), was turned down for a slew of Tory ones, before finally reaching the Commons ten years after she started trying.