Louise Mensch resigns...

[propercharlie]

too hard to balance famaily life :(

And on her career: "I'm not even a PPS [parliamentary private secretary, the lowest rung on the government ladder]! It's kind of annoying. What do I have to do to get promoted over here? Am I being disloyal? I don't know. I need to sit down with my whip and say, 'What do I have to do?' No, every time there is a raft of PPS promo­tions and my name is not on them, I have to sit down and think, 'What am I doing wrong?'"

Coniger- she makes me vomit. I can't help that. She is attractive but utterly talentless as a writer or politician and with odious views to boot.

Interesting that Lousise Mensch is one of @RupertMurdoch 's 24 followees.

E

I must say I wondered if this resignation was in any way connected to Murdoch. Has she a job lined up with one of the Murdoch companies. Why would this not be a surprise. I just simply don't believe she has made this decision because of her family.

clemette I can't see much wrong with that quote though, just sounds honest!

scummymummy which of her views are odious? I would really be interested in finding out as when I saw her I was always left very unoffended - and for a tory MP that is quite something!

I also think that being an MP for a marginal seat will have played into this as well. When she is talking to her current DH about who quits and relocates, he probably said what happens if you lose the next election - will I be rebuilding my career once yours takes a nose dive?

Maybe she wants kids with the new DH too, and figures after she serves her term kids will be off the agenda for her?

But I do feel that her lack of commitement to her constituents is very poor - she was elected in 2010 and married in 2011 - so we can assume that she had plans for a future with him when she was elected, what was her strategy for their relationship?

I don't know any couples that decided to marry despite living in different countries without a plan to actually be together in the short term.

Sardine, nothing wrong with the political ambition. It just seems a dramatic about turn.

Mostly her views are standard Tory fayre. Anti gay-marriage, pro-life, pro-fox hunting, anti European expansion, lower taxes for the well off etc etc.

Husband lives in New York, children live in Corby, she's in Westminster Monday to Thursday. It was never going to work once she married again. Debate should be whether it was good on her for trying or unrealistic from the word go. Putting her family first has to be right.

I've done the stupid hours, travelling, long commute thing but at least I always manage to live in the same house as my family. For good or ill, MPs don't.

I remember nearly upchucking hearing her talk about the slapper walks. She is breathtakingly sexist and missed the point entirely. Suspect that's a theme for her.

I've been reading a few articles about her. Apparently she started out as a tory, then joined the Labour party, and then went back to being a Tory! And this marrying in secret without even telling her own children. What kind of woman does that.

Mensch isn't content to be just a constituency MP, and she's too much of a liability to be anything more than that. It's in everybody's interest that she steps down.

Corby is a marginal seat and Mensch won her seat by a majority of just 1,500. It will be very exciting to see what happens there.

Vivienmary - agree.

Well it will be Lib Dems nil points thats for sure.

Marrying in secret is shit.

"Corby is a marginal seat and Mensch won her seat by a majority of just 1,500. It will be very exciting to see what happens there. "

Job vacancy! Who fancies standing?

Rebekah Brooks.

LM article

Comments there make me feel rather tame!

I can't be arsed to read the whole of this thread because most of the first two pages as it made me feel so despondent. But yey sisterhood .

None of us really know anything of her private life, not really our business. But she had stopped a lucrative career to do something she felt was worthwhile, with what I will assume was a motive to make a change. Perhaps she realised her novels were shallow nonsense and wanted to make a real difference to people's lives. Whether you agree with her politics or not, you cannot deny her motivation was honourable.

I think it is utterly crap that she is the one who has to quit her job and move to New York and not the other way round. Surely managing a band is way more flexible than the hours/career of an mp. So much for a woman's choice. And when you read this thread, I'm not surprised she felt she had no other choice. I can't believe I feel so het up about a thread on mumsnet but the majority of you sound like a bunch of small minded judgy individuals who are unable to see past their own lives.

I am not a Tory, but I am very sorry to see a woman MP having to resign for family reasons. No man would cite this as a reason. It seems incredibly incredibly unfair. And even sadder that she is moaned and bitched about.

Things will never change if the main critic in these situations is other women.

scummymummy what are slapper walks?

Oh just realised do you mean slutwalk?

clement

I know: "we may not have seen the last of Louise Mensch." sounds positively threatening.

I'm sad to see her go. She is the living incarnation of Pandora Braithwaite from the Adrian Mole series. I always felt entertained.

"with what I will assume was a motive to make a change"

"you cannot deny her motivation was honourable."

Why not? Because you assume that it is?