Just out of curiosity, you understand, I hopped over to TheyWorkForYou.com to check out the numbers on Lady Sylvia Hermon – the UUP’s only MP. Lady Hermon, you’ll be aware, is keeping everyone guessing as to whether she will jump the brush with her fellow UUPers into the arms of the Conservatives.
Now let’s assume she does join in the love-in. Will the Conservatives get good value for money from their new-found reluctant Tory? (Assuming she is re-selected and re-elected).
The Lady, it appears, doesn’t say much when she turns up at Westminster. She has only voted in 28% of divisions in this parliamentary term so far (that means she doesn’t bother to show for most votes). She hasn’t spoken in a debate in the last year. Perhaps this explains why she’s so tight-lipped.
The voting record is even more interesting. In her previous term she was much more prolific on the voting front – perhaps because she had a few more buddies and, presumably, there was some type of UUP parliamentary whip. From 2001 to 2005 she voted in nearly 70% of divisions. But now that she whips herself, so to speak, she rarely votes. As her own whip, she doesn’t rebel. But in the last parliamentary term she voted against her own whips 57 times.
So there we have it. An MP who rarely shows, rarely speaks, and always agrees with herself – but often rebels against her own Party colleagues. Worth having as the Conservative & Unionist MP for North Down?
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