Brian
You and I have been corresponding about my attempts to get my MP, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative, Cotswold), to sign the EDMs. His first reaction was to say that he doesn’t do EDMs, because there are too many of them, and anyway he’s now on the front bench and can’t get involved except in matters of official Tory policy. He had, however, written to the Minister of State, Adam Ingram, on behalf of another constituent Chris Murphy, and received the standard guff about ‘confidence in the reviewing officers’ and the usual offer to review the position should any compelling new factual evidence appear, etc etc. Geoffrey C-B seems to have accepted the reply, and had not pursued the matter further.
With your kind help, I have persevered and have now received this from him:
I agree with you that there are doubts in many quarters about this verdict. Moreover the Conservative Defence Team has expressed its reservations about the judgement, in conjunction with the campaign led by my colleagues David Davis and James Arbuthnot.
In your letter you ask for me to suggest the best way to hold the Government to account over this issue. I believe that my colleagues’ campaign, as well as the constant scrutiny of the Conservative Defence specialists is the answer. I do understand the importance of this issue, and I am sure their expert work will carry the day.
I also agree with you that the Government’s response is not entirely satisfactory - responses from ths Labour Government very rarely are! In contrast to the Government’s approach, I would like to assure you that I will offer James Arbuthnot my strong support in his dedicated campaign.
This is at least a step forward - but I think that I will press him on the EDM stuff, since he hasn’t answered my arguments on that score - and also perhaps refer to the response from John Reid to Beagle, pointing out the apparent anomaly suggested by Ginseng.
It’s a long, slow business......
But we're not giving up, are we!