Woohoo! now Benyon has two things to talk about

Not so long ago I was blogging about our local MP Richard Benyon having only his beloved weapons export agency as his only discussion point in the commons. It's true, it just about the only thing he has spoken about - how to export weapons, increasing the size of the team exporting weapons, how weapons are good, etc. In fact it always amazed me that FoE praised him in a letter or two in the Newbury Weekly News - his love of weapons and their ability to kill things whilst making a profit is just legendary.

Evidently the Tory spin doctors realised how bad this was looking and have now come up with something else for him to talk about - it fits into the environmental category by asking Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs some questions. Of course the Tory old boys club don't often think about things in detail and I have to wonder, why our local MP has been made tory old boy shadow minister for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; and why his only interest is deep sea and borders.

Is it because we are on the coast and have border problems in our area or do we have problems with deep sea fishing? I don't know but I'm sure I can't see the coast from anywhere in West Berkshire; and what I am very sure about is that his questions are neither strategic for the country (they are mostly inane get your name in Hansard type questions); nor do they cover the very pressing issues that we find in our region. Where is he standing up in Parliament and asking questions about our short fall in schools funding? our swine flu provisions in West Berkshire? our local businesses? and while he is there why not talk about sustainability and our welfare? making homes carbon neutral; social housing an exemplar to the rest of the industry; a fair minimum wage; free school meals; safer streets and 20mph zones in urban areas.... the list goes on. And of course he failed to support the Animal Welfare labelling early day motion (EDM 581) which would have put the UK at a competitive advantage to the rest of Europe (as our animal welfare standards are on the whole better than on the continent).

So congratulations to the landed gentry, the tory old boy's, the toff's, and the sheep and cows who in West Berkshire always vote tory (at least they always put signs up in their fields)... in West Berkshire Richard Benyon represents the exporting of weapons for profit and the monitoring of our coasts. What a legacy.