‘If you’ve got water coming in through the roof then they should be doing something about that,’ says Stephen Timms mildly to one of his constituents. The East Ham MP is sitting in the middle of a long row of tables in the Town Hall, flanked by two caseworkers, each seeing a member of the public who has a problem they hope their MP can solve.
Timms had kindly invited me to sit in on one of his surgeries months ago. I’m currently criss-crossing the country watching politicians of all political persuasions carry out their regular constituency work for a book that I’m writing on what MPs really do – and whether they’re the right sort of politicians. It has taken me to chilly community centres in Glasgow, Cumbrian church halls, bustling inner London libraries – and into some spectacularly messy MPs’ cars, as well. I had wanted to watch Timms at work because his case load in his deprived east London constituency is high, and he is often the MP who contacts the Home Office the most.
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