Louise Mensch resigns...

[propercharlie]

too hard to balance famaily life :(

Was Louise Bagshawe ever called Lousie first husband's surname, does anyone know?

Rachel Sylvester wrote a silly article about Mensch in today's Times. Mensch's resignation was actually nothing to do with balancing family life.

you don't say Frieda

is it the Times behind one of those paywall thingies?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Mensch

Isn't she just an easily bored, self-centred woman who can't stick at anything worthwhile and likes a bit of excitement in her life?

Oh honestly, she's married to one of the richest men in New York. Why not resign - she won't get anywhere under the Tories and she certainly doesn't need the money.

Anyway, she's set up a company that's a "rival" to Twitter & presum. wants to do that. (Good luck with that.)

'she won't get anywhere under the Tories'
Hold on Corbygal!
I thought it was about 'serving' your constituents and 'making a difference'!

'She is ambitious, fiercely intelligent and eloquent.'
Hold on Darryl!
Have you got the right person? She's no Thatcher!

Maybe she wants another baby. So I suppose it might be a bit easier if she at least lived on the same continent as her husband.

re "She is ambitious, fiercely intelligent and eloquent."

claig - I think Darryl was simply quoting Nigel Kennedy, who said that (or something very similar) about her, after questions about her time with EMI when she and he went clubbing and may have used drugs...

I really think this whole family thing is a red herring

also not quite sure why every woman in public eye is supposed to set an example, but anyway

HER CHILDREN RECEIVED DEATH THREATS ON TWITTER, surely anyone would consider leaving a role in the public eye if thats the kind of shit you get?

sod that for a game of soldiers, she likely earns far more money writing her chick-shit books

She does not live in Corby but in leafy east northants (the posher half of her constituency). Her children attend a private school. As has been mentioned earlier the guardian said she was planning to stand down in 2015, though whether she would have been voted in again in a marginal constituency is questionable hence jumping early " before her kids get too settled in their schools" (youngest is age 5).
Fingers crossed for a labour win in the by election.

Not rocket science, surely.

She was doing a crap job as a constituency MP (I have family in Corby...). Almost certain to lose her seat come next GE. Too lightweight for anyone to give her anything more substantial in government in the mean time - her policies were Party-line Tory, not an original thought in her head.

Meanwhile, she has a flashy new dh in the States & would prefer her dc not to get too settled in Northants. Fair enough.

The only reason not to bail out would've been a sense of responsibility to the Conservatives for dropping her so neatly into position, & presumably expecting her to stick it out until they got bored with her rather than vice versa. Her constituents don't seem sorry to see the back of her.

On the basis that she's answering exclusively to 'What's most convenient for Louise Mensch?', it's obviously a perfectly sensible decision.

I just caught some of Channel 4 news where Louise Mensch is being slated by her constituents. I'll try and watch it on plus 1. Apparently she was more or less useless.

In fairness, I'm not sure how many first term MPs are able to do very much for their constituents (okay markedly less if they consistently state they have no intention of voting against the government) - you would have no real power base or network, no clear idea of how to get things done, and very little ability to trade favours to get what you want.

Not sure how many "consistently state they have no intention of voting against the government" but with the whip system, the vast majority seem incapable of showing any backbone and vote with their party, whatever the pros and cons, or representations made by constituents (and only they and their staff could accurately tell what views were being put forward on any specific issues, so not really that easy to tell, and I'm therefore speculating!)

They don't need to be "on the government side" to be slaves to the whip!

Louise Mensch is an excellent example of why so many people think so little of MPs in general.

I'm not sure why anyone would actually want to be an MP, mind you. It seems like a largely thankless task, unless you are in it for the wrong reasons!...

NetworkGuy, my comment was referring to FalseStartered's on Mon 06-Aug-12 21:14:11:

she had no politics of her own

i emailed her on occasion (eg; abortion clinics and counselling, the changes to legal aid, support for a local service funding) each time she replied with the line that she would not be voting against the government.

When you consider the whip system in addition to all the other barriers to getting stuff done that a first time MP has to face, it is a wonder anyone agrees to do it.

That said, I think the Tebbit model is more appropriate (which is not something you hear every day).

Rupert Murdoch must be a more family-friendly employer. 'LOUISE MENSCH, Former Tory MP' now writes for The Sun. [Here's one she made earlier]