Wednesday, September 8, 2010

"Where in the world is Lady Sylvia Hermon?" Part 3, Vote 53

Continuing Chekov's series, these are the latest set of figures for the elusive North Down MP from "They (don't) work for you":
Since 6 May 2010, Lady Syvia has attended 0 votes out of 53 at Westminster.
It's not clear to what date that 0% is valid up to; what we do know is there was neither hide nor hair of her seen at the important votes (here and here) which took place on Monday regarding the AV system and the proposed constituency changes. Ironically, after all the accusations of Little Ulsterism (one or two originating admittedly from here!), all but one of the DUP MPs turned up and voted; Dodds, Simpson and McCrea took part in the debates. Durkan, Ritchie and McDonnell were also present, as were all the Scottish nationalists and 2 out of 3 of the Plaid Cymru MPs. But no independent Unionists from North Down decided it was worth their while to pop over to the national parliament for one of the most important constitutional issues for a long time.

Now, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that illness or family concerns are preventing Lady Hermon from carrying out those duties the electorate have entrusted her with. But if either reason does explain why she has made no appearance since the election, shouldn't the voters of North Down have been informed of those issues before making their decision in May? Also, a glimpse at her attendance record for the two or three months prior to the election reveals a very conscientious MP indeed. And then... election day... suddenly it all stopped.


*Breaking news* *Breaking news* *Breaking news*

Lady Hermon has, 127 days after the election, been spotted this morning at Westminster attending the Northern Ireland Select Committee. Nice of her to turn up really and who knows, she might even make it to a vote one of these days. Thanks to eagle-eyed Lee in the comments.

5 comments:

Owen Polley said...

The MSM don't seem interested in this.

Lee said...

She's at the NI select committee today

Unknown said...

I wrote to her some years back. I received neither a reply, nor even an acknowledgement.

I can't say that this left me with a particularly favourable opinion of her.

O'Neill said...

You might have been unlucky there, They Work for you, says she gets back within 2-3 weeks usually. You'd have thought it helped to fill the day really.

Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban) said...

Lady Hermon surfaced in the Commons yesterday afternoon (14 September) ... http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2010-09-14a.743.0&s=speaker%3A10958#g752.0