With the dust settling on Labour’s election landslide, many former Tory MPs have been enjoying their first summer of freedom since their schooldays. Here are some of the more eye-catching examples…
- Richard Graham, former MP for Gloucester, has been piling on the runs on the cricket pitch, with scores of 110 not out and 135 not out. He was soon sledged for “getting more runs than he did votes…”
- Alex Chalk, former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, donned his vest and trainers for the Cheltenham half marathon, finishing in a respectable 1:47:40. A way to go to beat fastest-MP Mathew Paris’ blistering 1.17 effort in 1985…
- Robert Buckland, another former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, has confessed he’s been having a ‘brat summer’ (brat meaning chaotic, braless and imperfect for the uneducated.) Not sure British pop-star Charli XCX had test match cricket, the opera, and exploring the Austrian Danube in mind when she coined the phrase…
- Greg Hands, former MP for Chelsea and Fulham, has embarked on an impressive gap year travelling through the US, Mexico and Canada, not to mention interrailing around northern India. Finding yourself is more fun than finding a job…
- Meanwhile David TC Davies, former Secretary of State for Wales, has taken a hefty pay cut to become a senior advisor to Laura Anne Jones, Member of the Senedd for South East Wales. The only thing worse than being opposition in Westminster is being opposition in Cardiff…
Post-Westminster life isn’t all rosy, though. One former Tory MP tells Guido “many of the traditionalists are ruing the fact their first summer off has coincided with the worst grouse and salmon season for decades.” Feather and fin proving as elusive as votes…
UPDATE: Matthew Offord gets in touch to showcase his sailing of a yacht from Guernsey to Greece over the summer:
Tory unity latest…
Guido can reveal a sixth Tory MP is putting their hat in the ring to chair the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, following the vacancy created by Tom Tugendhat’s promotion. Richard Graham, the MP for Gloucester, is joining Liam Fox, IDS, Alicia Kearns, Henry Smith and John Baron in the race – albeit at a significantly later starting date than his five competitors.
Richard Graham is campaigning on four points, the third of which is certain to raise eyebrows among Tory MPs:
- This role is about seeking truths through evidence to influence Parliament and policy. Not grandstanding or ideological campaigning.
- We should make the most of our development funding and other soft power examples like the Commonwealth, Chevening scholarships and the British Council
- We should explore what the mooted European Partnership offers and ways to resolve the NI conundrum
- Being sanctioned by Russia and having a visa denied by China (as I have both) are reasons to deepen, not cut off, engagement
A source close to one of the candidates revealed lots of SNP MPs are set to back Alicia Kearns, and no doubt many Labour MPs will also be putting her as first preference, meaning it’s likely she will be in the final two with either IDS or Liam Fox. Nominations close tomorrow and the vote’s on Wednesday…
Tory MP Richard Graham had the Commons in fits of giggles today when he invited Liz Truss to meet him in a service station to enjoy a “warm welcome and a Gloucester old spot sausage”. Alec Shelbrooke, seated to Graham’s right, seemed to find the suggestion particularly amusing…
Two men have been arrested for arson after a derelict warehouse in Gloucester was burned down this week. A nasty incident, certainly, though fortunately no one is believed to have been hurt. Local MP Richard Graham is therefore going somewhat overboard:
As sad as it is to see a section of a disused warehouse collapsing, the destruction by ISIS of world heritage ruins in Palmyra is perhaps slightly worse. Guido awards Graham the Order of the OTT…
