The Dorries amendment will be a free vote - keep the pressure on

[WilsonFrickett]

Lots of press today saying that the govt has decided to vote against ND's ridiculous amendment. While this is good news, it will still be a free vote, with individual MPs able to vote as they please. If you were thinking about emailing your MP on this issue please still do so - the result isn't a foregone conclusion.

From the Guardian article:

...a combination of the unpredictable intake of new Tory MPs, split between social conservatives and modernisers, the number of Roman Catholic Labour MPs, and the high degree of nuance of the amendment make it extremely unclear which way the vote will go.

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/31/downing-street-uturn-abortion-proposals

Thanks for the good news Empusa.

Don't know how to find that out but will be watching with interest.

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/sep/07/politics-blog-pmqs-live

Confirmed here.

Yes, I have to say I was shocked at how incoherent Dorries was - her speech was horrifying - inaccurate and unsubstantiated.

Basically, Diane Abbott wiped the floor with her.

Frank Field did, effectively tell her to shut up, yes. He told her to withdraw her amendment - which I believe in parliamentary terms is 'STFU you stupid woman!".

yey it lost by 250 votes. Diane Abbott was a star, stuck to facts and demolosihed Dorries arguements easily. Dorries made a bit of a fool of herself in my opinion, she kept on for thwo thirds of the allotted time, and kept talking for nearly ten minutes after Fields suggested she should end her speech.
The Guardian did a good minute by minute coverage of it, and if you look at the "theyworkforyou" website it should tell you who voted which way.

Tbh, amusing as it is the Frank Field told her to "shut up". How pathetic is he for jumping at the last minute? No one was arguing anything that he couldn't have already found out himself, shows he doesn't bother thinking before jumping in.

Quote from guardian "Dorries is still speaking. But MPs are getting restless. Frank Field, the Labour MP supporting her, rises to suggest that she would help her cause if she were to finish now."

Dorries went on for an hour, Abbot spoke for just over ten minutes !!

Missed it. That'll teach me to go out buying frivolous items like tonight's dinner.

I did witness part of Nadine Dorries's rambling. I was shocked at how incompetent she was.

Has she spoken about it since?

And it there a link to the highlights?

According to twitter (oh font of all gossip) the following votes for Dorries ammendment

Keith Vaz
Crabbe
Davies
Prichard
Whittingdale
Swane
Duncan-Smith
Grayling
Bellingham
Miller
Hayes
Howarth
Liam Fox
Owen Patterson

Twitter saying Ian Duncan Smith, and Liam Fox are 2 of the 118.

slug Beat me to it!

And, much as I loathe the woman she does not deserve this

I want a full list of those voting with the loopy one too.

Agree Slug. I started this.

Apparently when Dorries tried to question David Cameron on the lib dems influence, he replied that he realised she was extremely frustrated, and then started laughing and saying he was going to start again. She stormed out amid laughter.

. FFS. Why the hell can't they discuss serious issues relating to women without descending into schoolboy jokes. These people are running our fucking country.

PMQs preceded the debate on the amendments. The House of Commons has always acted en masse like a bunch of schoolboys in the way they conduct themselves during serious discussions (heckling etc.) Cameron and Clegg came across as juvenile, sexist anal fissures.

Narky - liking 'anal fissures'

Thank you. I'm trying to extend my vocabulary of insults.

Brilliant news, somewhat tainted by the PM reverting to type. But all in, brilliant news and a big love for Diane Abbot in the House of Wilson tonight.

Diane Abbott is now officially my herione.

Just read that Nadine has been on the BBC claiming it as a win , believe it or not. Well, excuse me while I ROFL. Apparently they only voted against her amendment because 'Anne Milton said she would give her what she wanted anyway' But Anne Milton said that last week didn't she. Curious.

The woman's deranged.

ND has said that she may have lost the battle, but she has won the war

Was she watching the same debate I was??

I have been very worried about the Tory view on this, particularly the comments by the Health Minister who said she wants to meet the 'spirit of the amendments'.

Frank Field backed off and dropped some heavy hints about the Minister listening to their views. I think the government are going to do something in terms of regs and - what really frightens me - there did seems to be mention of future parliamentary discussions and consulatation on abortion that would presumably be wider ranging.

I think that most of the anti-abortion lot kept their mouths shut on a promise of future opportunities to have much more impact. The government didn't want to be closely associated with someone so obviously a stranger to reality. They are still in favour of changes though.

I wonder if Nadine Dorrie epic speech was in part because those who had been going to share the argument in favour with her dropped out. Frank Fields was definitely on damage limitation duty.

I worry as to what was so attractive to Frank Fields, a committed opponent of abortion, that it got him to walk away from the amendment. I really hope that they aren't going to open up a wider abortion review that would put everything up for grabs.

I wonder whether Nadine Dorries is one of those people who don't know the difference between truth and lies.

Seriously. I've met other people who fail to get their own way, go away to lick their wounds, only to come back bumptious as ever with their version of events which has some basis in fact but isn't what anyone else would recognise as a full and true account.

Jeffrey Archer and Heather Mills spring to mind. I've met others but you wouldn't have heard of them.

What happens in my experience is that most people get tired of pointing out the facts which the Dorrieses of this world then regard as proof of the veracity of their version.

But most sensible people refuse to take them seriously again.

She'll be back. But any credibility she had is gone.

Yes narky I believe they wanted to ditch such an obvious fruitloop.

Other anti-abortionists such as Field and David Alton in the 1980s are much more credible.

It's worrying.