Short thread

Hitchin and Harpenden MP Bim Afolami has today issued this statement to explain his voting against yesterday’s Opposition Motion to extend Free School Meals for vulnerable children.

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In this statement, quite clearly informed by internal Conservative Party instructions and policy documents issued by Number Ten, Afolami opens strongly with a series of facts and positive statements around Government spending on alleviating child poverty.

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However the statement unravels and reveals Bim’s adherence to the Whip with several nasty and misleading claims:

1. Bim claims that “Oppostion Day Motions cannot change policy”.

Well, why not ? Why would the Government not take heed of a well-worded and intentioned Motion?

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2. Bim then goes on to say “these motions are orchestrated to undermine the trust between the public and the government. This vote was never designed to achieve anything constructive”

Bim seems to believe that the government has a monopoly on good ideas and intentions.

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3. Bim then sticks in the knife and twists, describing the entire Motion as a “high-profile political stunt”.

Coming from the Party whose Leader drove a digger through a wall of polystyrene bricks during the election, that is rather rich !

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What new have we learned about Bim this week?

Sadly nothing.

He has confirmed what we already knew: that regardless of the wishes, interests and pleas of the people of Hitchin and Harpenden, he will always put his career before constituents and his party before country.

END