This week, your Liberal Democrat MP for Dorking and Horley embarrassed residents with his public airing of his dirty laundry.
An article in The Telegraph described him as "the most spineless MP in Britain" following a very public spat with his local priest over his vote for the Assisted Dying bill. He could have requested a meeting or written to him. He could have accepted that the priest has very strong values around his religion, but instead your MP chose to cause a social media storm.
This shows a lack of seriousness on his part, especially given that during the midst of this melee, he failed to turn up in Parliament to vote in favour of designating Palestine Action, the group who sprayed paint into jets defending the UK, as a terrorist organisation. Just under a year ago during the General Election campaign, we got a taste of what to expect, as our Parliamentary Spokesperson Marisa Heath recalls.
"The hustings in which (the MP) revealed his fundamental lack of conviction and values as well as his ability to get riled when people don’t agree with him and challenge his moralistic posturing. Having drifted between various parties over the years, Conservatives, Renew, Independent and now Lib Dems, he had shown his lack of loyalty or maybe more his inability to hold deep values and principles from the start. At every husting he delivered the same speech by note and answered questions with guarded, bland deflections rather than drawing on any sort of real belief or conviction on the topics being discussed."
We need an MP who will stand up for residents in Dorking & Horley. And given residents face serious issues such as the withdrawal of NHS services in Dorking and the dumping of sewage in Horley, it's disgraceful and embarrassing that the MP elected by over 20,000 residents chose instead to pick a fight with his priest. Residents deserve better.
