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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think having a child does not prevent you voting in the hoc especially if you can attend anti trump protests.

20 replies

silversfish · 18/07/2018 12:05

jo swinson

OP posts:
LapdanceShoeshine · 21/07/2018 14:27

People don’t normally have to go into work on maternity leave.

But they can go where they like outside work.

HTH Smile

myrtleWilson · 21/07/2018 14:30

plus on this occassion she didn't need to be there as she had been paired. If the pairing had not been agreed I'm sure she would have found a way to attend.

falaffels · 21/07/2018 14:33

She has a two week old baby. Of course she's not at work. And of course what she does with her time is her own business.

It's good that Parliament has rules that mean that people who have legitimate reasons not to be there don't let their constituents down.

It's bad that the Tory whips broke the rules in this occasion.

OP, you're an idiot.

AgentProvocateur · 21/07/2018 14:35

Jo swinson is a career politician who shafted her constituents by abstaining from the last Brexit vote as it would have upset the Welsh assembly. She is the MP for one of Scotland’s highest voting remain constituencys. Regardless of that, she is entitled to mat leave and to expect the pairing arrangement to be honoured.

DamnCommandments · 21/07/2018 14:36

The Commons needs proper arrangements for maternity, paternity and sick leave.

EdinaMonsoon · 21/07/2018 14:51

YANBU.
Yes the Tory whip broke the rules & she had every right to believe the pairing would be honoured. However, I find it frustrating that she had no qualms standing in a very squashed, boiling hot & frankly unpleasant environment with her newborn to march (she was stood literally right beside me at the start of the demo for approx 45 mins waiting for the crowd to move) yet felt unable to attend the HoC for the vote because she is on mat leave.

kalapattar · 21/07/2018 14:56

There is a pairing system. It seems to have been deliberately broken.

If someone says they are going to pair with you and then don't, that's not on.

I am sure that if the person said that they were unable to pair, then she could have made it in. But he said he would pair.

Then "forgot" - althought he managed to remember in the earlier votes that day.

Still, I am sure Theresa May is right in the fact that it was an honest mistake Hmm

Helmetbymidnight · 21/07/2018 14:59

She was paired, absolutely common practise, and they screwed her over.

You’re genuinely trying to blame her?

Helmetbymidnight · 21/07/2018 15:00

Oh I see, it’s because she left the house for something else? That means she should be screwed over! Of course.

gunnyBear · 21/07/2018 15:01

She didn't mind marching when it suited her. She's using maternity leave to avoid having any opinion of substance. She's weak.

falaffels · 21/07/2018 15:27

'Avoid having any opining of substance', Gunnybear?

She brought transparency on gender pay gaps into law, among much else. I would love to know what those being snide about her on the internet have done to match that.

It doesn't matter in the slightest that she was doing other things out of the house.

Parliament has many stupid rules. But the pairing rule is a good one - it essentially means that you don't have to be physically there to have your voice heard.

The fact that people are blaming her for what the Tory whips did - and admitted it was a 'mistake' (I would use stronger language), is vile.

MereDintofPandiculation · 21/07/2018 15:32

She didn't mind marching when it suited her. She's using maternity leave to avoid having any opinion of substance. She's weak. She couldn't have been paired with the Tory MP if she weren't planning to vote the opposite way to him. That's hardly avoiding the vote, or not having an opinion.

She's using maternity leave for its purpose - to spend time with her newborn.

LapdanceShoeshine · 21/07/2018 15:52

Re the “accidental” vote by Lewis, there’s footage from the HoC of the chief whip speaking to him on the floor immediately before he scuttled off to vote Angry

& didn’t the Tories do this en masse recently after MPs with distant constituencies had left for the weekend?

They are such snakes (with a very few honourable exceptions)

falaffels · 21/07/2018 15:55

Reading back my earlier posts, I sound really anti Tory. I'm not usually, but the T whips were despicable on this occasion!

Gilead · 21/07/2018 15:55

She didn't mind marching when it suited her. She's using maternity leave to avoid having any opinion of substance. She's weak.
Love your support of working women...

SanFranBear · 21/07/2018 16:01

MereDint - excellent post!

MinervaMaronne · 21/07/2018 16:06

Way to deflect attention from the actual people who were in the wrong here ie the Tory Whip and the bloke who didn't stick to the agreement.

Grimbles · 21/07/2018 16:08

Having a child wouldn't have prevented me from doing a lot of stuff related to my job. But as I was on maternity leave I didn't have to do them, and could spend my time watching Netflix, or going to the shops or attending a protest march or whatever else I fancied doing.

If my maternity cover who was supposed to do my work tasks turned out to be rubbish at them or didn't do what they were meant to then it's not my problem.

ArcheryAnnie · 22/07/2018 17:51

If she was paired with an agreement to stay away, then she would have been procedurally and morally wrong to turn up to vote, whether she was on maternity leave or not.

The Conservative MP who voted when paired with her was the one both procedurally and morally in the wrong.

wellBeehivedWoman · 22/07/2018 17:53

That's like saying when you have a baby if you're able to go to the cinema you're also able to nip into work for a meeting. I.e. It's total bullshit.

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