For the 35 years that I lived in Northamptonshire I had a Tory MP, and knew them all. Arthur Jones was the first, very much from the old school of public service, who had had two spells as Mayor of Bedford before he became an MP. He didn't have great ambition to progress to be a minister in government, rather spending time to represent the people who had elected him, and taking up causes such as making sure there was a decent supply of council housing for the children of the locals to start married life in.
The next when Arthur retired was Reg Prentice. He had held office in the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, but switched parties when the left wing in Newham deselected him. That was real left wing politics at work nothing like the social democrat policies being proposed by the current Labour Party. He turned out to be very popular among the crusty old Tories who had wondered what Lady Hesketh had done to bring a Labour man along to represent them. He brought his social conscience along with him and was taken into the Tory government by Margaret Thatcher. Despite his duties in government he was always ready to have a chat and listened to your concerns about how Thatcher was becoming out of touch with ordinary people.
The last MP was Tim Boswell a local farmer. He was once again a proper one nation Tory who would turn up on a Saturday morning to listen to concerns that the local rubbish tip was to be sold off, and the company was only interested in taking things that they could resell. He was in the government of John Major, yet still found time to listen to one and all from the area. When he retired he was given the title of The Lord Boswell of Aynho and has chaired the Lords committee on leaving the EU. Long before any current minister had even thought about the problems that Northern Ireland would bring, his committee had spent several days there and written a report.
Everyone of them, although slightly different received my vote. They were good public servants, likeable, and above all honest. They would tell you the problems about how long it might take to get something changed, but promised to try and did their best to keep to that promise.
Everyone of them were internationalist in their outlook, very much in favour of a close cooperation with countries across the Channel. Arthur had lived through WWII and never wanted to see such a thing happen again. They all understood that a close economic relationship would mean a peaceful continent.
Today my MP is nothing like any of them. A career politician who is never seen unless there is a camera around, and doesn't reply to letters or e-mails let alone get to meet the people who have voted for her. She is far too right wing for my liking, but will get re-elected because people just don't want to think about how little she does. When the County Council collapsed she had nothing to say on the matter. I cannot bring myself to support this government anymore, they have moved too far away from what I want a MP and government to do.
