The voting records of Bradford's MPs are now public and they reveal that four out the the District's five MPs vote in most divisions. And this is entirely as it should be because the main reason we elect an MP is for that person to toddle off down to London and vote. This is because the MP is a representative sent to parliament because all of the UK's sixty-odd million people can't squeeze into that chamber with the green seats.
So George Galloway's dismal record on voting - he bothered with just 15.5% of votes - should be a matter of shame for the famously blustering MP. Instead he mounts a ridiculous defence - more a set of pathetic excuses than an argument. Or rather an anonymous spokesman mounts this excuse for a defence;
Mr Galloway disputed the worth of the figures, because they fail to register whether an MP is absent from Westminster – or is present and has chosen to actively abstain.
Furthermore, he argued, his constituents agreed that many votes were "farcical", because most MPs followed whips’ instructions to win rewards, or avoid punishments.
A spokesman said: "The choices on offer are unpalatable to George, being either the Government’s proposal or the official Opposition’s - neither of which George supports.
Given that the more assiduous voter of our five MPs is Phil Davies - famously one of the most rebellious Tory MPs - the argument about 'whips' is a bit pathetic. It's true that there are plenty of other things for MPs to do - and George Galloway may or may not be doing these (the evidence is mixed) - but not voting remains a dereliction of the duty Bradford West's electors charged him with performing.
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