Labour MP Tristram Hunt is to leave politics to fight for justice through decorative arts
In light of what is happening to the UK’s National Health Service, many might bemoan the fact that this is the wrong Hunt. But say what you like about the openly Tory one, at least Jeremy is sticking to his twisted principles.
Tristram, on the other hand, now feels the best place to war on behalf of the working class and the poor is from the tapestried corridors of the V&A — London’s Victoria and Albert Musem. As the Tories continue to destroy the National Health Service in the service of neoliberal ideology, Tristram’s response is to take his ‘dream job’. Power to your morals, Trist. I’m sure the position comes with private medical insurance.
This proves once again that representing the interests of constituents is, for many MPs, simply a career move, a temporary stopover where it is possible to make the contacts to get a real job — your dream job — elsewhere. Westminster is now a highly paid internship for posh boys before they land roles at some of the transnational corporations that are ripping the guts from democracy in the first place.
And one of the best ways to continue to ravage democracy is to make it clear that loyal legislators are rewarded with large salaries.
The V&A — “one of London’s most prestigious cultural institutions”, according to the Guardian — is not a transnational corporation and there is nothing remotely insidious about its relationship with Hunt. It is perhaps the timing that reflects most badly on our Tristram.
Hunt’s constituency in Stoke will disappear when the new gerrymandered boundaries are put in place. But a by-election will take place to keep the existing seat occupied. It is UKIP that probably present the strongest opposition to Labour here — they came second in the 2015 General Election.
When I studied for a course in British Constitution at school, the process of relinquishing one’s position as an MP seemed both arduous and rare. Not so now, it appears. MPs used to apply for the Chiltern Hundreds and it was usually done under duress or in cases of serious ill-health. This reflected the importance of the position and its responsibilities. Now, however, the ‘job’ of MP is relinquished when something better comes along.
Still, one Hunt less in the chamber can only be a good thing.
