McGovern has been MP for Dundee West since 2005 when Ernie Ross stood down due to ill health.
I realised when I started to write this that, despite his being an MP for 10 years in my neighbouring constituency, I knew nothing about him and had only memories of one story about him.
That was the occasion when he cost the taxpayer £27,000 fighting for a £23.90 expenses claim.
It turns out from his Wikipedia page that there isn't much more to know, so I feel a little vindicated. But credit to him for standing up for his beliefs when the Labour Party wanted to privatise the Post office.
I remember too, seeing a Youtube video of him introducing Jim Murphy in Dundee on his 100 days of Irn Bru tour. McGovern starting his intro with the word "Comrades", which made me laugh a bit, and I imagine made Jim Murphy squirm!
Mr McGovern gives on-going ill-heath as his reason for standing down at this stage, and Munguin's Republic wishes him a speedy recovery from what ails him and hopes that the relaxation of retirement will aid his recovery process.
It may be well for politicians of all stripes to remember at this point that, as people get older, they become less able to cope with the demands of full time work. Parties seem determined to increase and increase the age at which one can retire, and Labour has just confirmed that, in government, it would continue to follow this path.
This policy, of course, is based on the ever increasing life expectancy of the UK population at large, but takes little account of people's reducing capacity for the famed "hard work" so beloved of our politicians, as years pass by.
We may all live to be 100 now, but it doesn't mean that we continue to be fit for work, nor does it mean that employers are happy to accommodate our older people.
It might be a good idea for politicians to look at how life can be made easier for those who are simply not well enough to go on working, but who are not in the fortunate financial situation to be able to stop work.
In the meantime I understand that Labour has only a few days to find a candidate for the seat before the time for candidate nominations close.
Good luck with that.
A workmate told me that he saw him regularly in the Taybrig Bar, and he often looked 'unwell'.
ReplyDeleteYes, I hear he represented the people in there quite a lot!
DeleteHe has jumped before he got dumped in order to spend less time with our booze in the subsidised Palace of Westminster saloons, for health reasons!
ReplyDeleteLooks like he will have to buy his own drinks from now on as he is far too much of a useless non-entity to merit a seat in the House of Non-entities!
Ha ha... I agree he won;t go to the lords. He's the kind that only gets there if their seat is required by someone else.
DeleteI too wish him a speedy recovery, I may not like the party he represented but, I don't want anyone to work and deal with I'll health.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought, he would have hung on, till election day to ensure his pension; is it not the case if you stand down the pension is toast?
I think if you resign at the end of a parliament then you're Ok for the severance pay and the pension.
DeleteI'm sure he will get our, I mean his, money.
I think it's fair to say that Jim is jumping ship before he is pushed out by the electorate. Anyhow as he is stepping down on health grounds, I don't think he loses his pension according to Wikipedia "If an MP stands down during the course of a Parliament for ill health reasons, an ill health retirement grant is payable, calculated in the same way as the Resettlement Grant (as well as an immediate pension based on the service the MP would have accrued if he or she had continued to serve until age 65"
DeleteHe will also be entitled to a "resettlement" grant some of which is explained here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8726581.stm
Yes, I thought he'd be alright. But in fact he is not, at the moment, an MP. He has stood down at the end of a parliament. So he'd have been OK anyone.
DeleteLet's be honest these people have every thing covered for themselves. Wage, pensions, expenses, future... They are never going to suffer.
I see Jenny Marra is being tipped to stand . Can she , being an MSP ?
ReplyDeleteHi Betty...welcome to Munguin's.
DeleteYes, she can stand, and it's an obvious choice. She is well-known in the area, not least because her uncle, Michael.
Alex Salmond is standing for WM whilst being an MSP.
I just read this on her Wiki page:
DeleteIn the 2014 Scottish Labour Party leadership election, Marra acted as Co-Chair of Jim Murphy’s campaign.
I don;t know what difference that will make to her campaign, but I'd not have thought the Toryesque Murphy would have gone down well in certain parts of the constituency.
That said, Marra may be popular herself, and it occurs to me that given the dire polls for Dundee West and the fact that the party wouldn't put money and manpower into it, maybe Jim was encouraged to stand down for new, younger blood?
I doubt Labour will waste resources contesting Dundee speaking as a Dundonian,I think it's a foregone conclusion that the SNP will win both East and West. Labour will be preoccupied with more important seats such as Jim Murphy's as only a MP/MSP can be branch office "leader" meaning if he loses he would have to resign.
DeleteHi DOSW...
DeleteWelcome...
Yeah, I think they have more or less given up on him. Hre's not popular and even without the national swing to SNP, I think he might have been pretty hard pressed to hold on to his seat.
Anyone who is prepared to spend £27,000 of public money to claim £30 in expenses is hardly a sound bloke to have as your MP.
If I were a Labour man I'd vote against him... Scottish Socialist or whatever, if I hated the SNP, but I wouldn't vote for him.
I read a tweet, possibly on the Rev's feed, that he had been resisting pressure to stand down for someone else.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I read that too.
DeleteAs I say, he was hardly an asset to them. You'd have thought though that they would have talked him into it a bit earlier.
The workmate I mentioned earlier in this thread gave me more info on oor Jim.
DeleteSeemingly he left school without one qualification. His biggest asset was being a gang hanger-on.
As Westminster luvvies always say that MP's deserve the salary they could earn in the public sector, I fully expect MP's salary to drop to the £15,000 pa that Jim could earn as a care worker in a nursing home.
I tell you, if I were in a care home, I'd not want Jim looking after me.
DeleteFrightening thought!
I imagine if Mr McGovern is really unwell he has chosen the right time to depart,as this is the end of the final salary MP's pension scheme, why do you think the likes of Brown and Darling and anyone with a bit of financial sense is leaving.
ReplyDeleteI used to enjoy a pint in the Taybrig Bar Helena, but I stopped going there in case he was there and I had had a few.
DeleteI wouldn't trust myself not to lamp him.
Juteman, I admire you're fortitude.
DeleteHa ha , Helena, have you been on the sherry.
DeleteBrown adn Darling? Financial sense?
Best one I've heard this year!
:)
LOL Jutie... Lamp an honourable gentleman?
DeleteIt would be a good giggle if he stood against the official Labour candidate and was then eligible for a severance payment as a defeated member. I get the feeling he was pushed from the whispers I am hearing from some Labour people.
DeleteOh I'm always year for some gossip Marcia... Spill if you get anything concrete?
Delete:)
Bairns not Bombs rally.
ReplyDeletehttp://new.livestream.com/IndependenceLive/Bairns
Thanks CH
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