David Morris: Political Inspiration

It is worth following my MP, David Morris on Twitter if you are writing a political comedy (or tragedy depending on your point of view). I can't find much on his postings with which I can agree and I often write about them on this blog. So it was no surprise to find that I found new motivation to write a blog today because of his post.

You may just think that David is being  polite in thanking his Tory colleague for opening a 'walk-in' centre in Morecambe. Unfortunately the Speaker didn't agree. David was trying to make political capital out of this walk-in centre by saying that it was closed under the previous government in 2006. He had to be reminded by  John Bercow that "First, topical questions are supposed to be brief. Secondly, the Minister is not responsible for what happened in 2006. We will have a very brief reply and then perhaps we can move on". Well done John, what a pity David doesn't know how Parliament works.

David Morris should know how Parliament works as he has been there long enough.  However, more important than David's knowledge of procedure is the content of his speech. Did Labour close a walk-in service in 2006? Of course they didn't. David should know this too from a previous question  in Westminster. To save you clicking on the link I'll tell you that David asked if there were any plans for a walk-in centre in Morecambe in 2011. It would have been a good question. Unfortunately the answer from the Tory Minister for Health was that it's nothing to do with him and everything to do with the local NHS.

David, please don't waste your constituents time in Westminster by asking the wrong people the wrong questions. Please don't take credit where it isn't due, and please don't criticise Andy Burnham when you know it was a local NHS decision. And this man is my MP.


I nearly pressed publish a couple of hours ago but I have just been to a Morecambe GP practice and spoken to two receptionists. There were plans for a walk-in centre but they never materialised - maybe that's why I didn't find it by doing a search. They also told me that there was no walk-in centre that closed in 2006. I keep my ears open and I worked locally in the NHS in 2006 and I'd never heard of it. There is a new scheme which is an addition to the usual out-of-hours system which allows patients to see a doctor but it isn't walk-in. How can my MP be so wrong on so many counts? The worst of it is that he thinks he is advertising how hard he is working by showing me what he is doing on Twitter.

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