David Heath MP has principals?

south west | corporations | opinion/analysis Wednesday March 05, 2008 23:15 by Employees.org.uk (John Robertson) - Employees.org.uk john at employees dot org dot uk 2 Avenue Gds, London SW14 8BP 0208 286 9947

During the Legal Service Bill about Trade Union members rights he was making chortly jokes and not thinking clearly

Today David Heath MP, the nice polite ex-optician who is MP for Yoevill, resigned from the Liberal front bench "on principal" about some chaotic bit of something-or-other about Europe. In October last year he was making chortly jokes accross the chamber about an obvious point of principal to anybody else but himself.

David Heath MP

What makes me want to say head this "little shit goes to hell" is that only a month or two ago he was drafted-in to front the Liberal bench on the Legal Services Act - the one that says you have next to no consumer rights against your trades union if you are a member. He was up against pretty tough opposition and bound to loose because many of them are financially and emotionally fuelled by large trades unions, but some opposition MPs would have gone down fighting.

For example, the govermnent bench argued that unions could not possibly register with the financial services authority. OK they already do when flogging pet insurance to their members, but not when talking about whether they will defend their members who get unfairly dismissed or discriminated against. One Labour MP said this would "destroy the relationship" between paid official and member, meaning the relationship that says "sorry mate: we've ripped you off all these years".

Mr Heath joked with an opposite number while on holiday "I can reassure her that there were brief moments when nothing could have been further from my mind than the Legal Services Bill.", but he might have asked-around for legal ideas when he got back from holiday and found the job on his desk. The Law Society, for example, spoke out against unions forcing their solicitors to provide a shoddy service. Even Mr Heath told the other side that he came from a "mining constituency"; that any MP who deals with union members let down by their unions must know that they are not "perfect", but he never had the courage to say "bollox".

At this point...
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id=2007-10-24b.299.0
....in the debate he said
"Although I still think that there is a substantial argument that what is right for the trade union goose should be right for the mutual gander, I have yet to persuade myself that I can draft something that adequately makes the point in legislation. I therefore do not criticise the Government for acknowledging the point but failing to accommodate it."
...as though he had left his speech on the train back from holiday.

You would think that an MP who's colleagues consituents are telling them stories of being let down by trade unions, who sees an obvious mess-up in the law and nothing to loose would say that the paid staff of trades unions should have the same proper contracts and transparency about what they offer as any other paid financial service providers. But no.

Well he's found a point of principal to resign on. Who would have thought he had it in him?