Is Mr Clark having a few problems?
Tonight I have discovered two things which beg the question “is Paul Clark having a few problems with his Constituents?”.
Firstly, Mr Clark has a saddening message on his website, stating: “PLEASE ENSURE ALL EMAILS ARE MATURE AND POLITE. ABUSIVE OR THREATENING EMAILS WILL NOT RECEIVE A REPLY”.
One can only imagine the kinds of emails he has been receiving to prompt such a message. What I will say, though, is that the idea that some people are unable to remain polite and civil when addressing others, even via email, is at best distressing and, politics aside, one can only feel sorry for Mr Clark, and his staffers, for being subjected to such emails.
Secondly, one of my sources has told me that Mr Clark, along with Cllr Gilry “etc.” were in Twydall today speaking to residents. My source gleefully states that they “were on the end of a severe tongue lashing from local residents”.
Again, it would be saddening if people had gone too far. However, from what I’ve been hearing (and this is before Twydall’s latest In Touch is delivered, the three Labour Councillors have been disregarding concerning emails from residents – and deserve to face opposition from residents.
After all, they are elected to serve!
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10 Comments
Do you think that some of the things that people were complaining about were out of his control (i.e. done by the Government and as he’s Labour, he gets the rap to, or maybe the economy)?
I don’t know, but are these the sort of things that people complain to him about, rather than local problems?
Do you get any abusive emails like that? (Except the ones from me!!!
)
Rob – I’ve no doubt that is the case, and that is one of the reasons I can’t help but feel sorry about. But such are the joys of becoming a partisan MP – you’ve got to be willing to take the rough with the smooth!
My comment was aimed primarily at Mr Clark’s record of almost always supporting the government – even in the face of opposition from local residents – and at my local councillors who almost always pursue their partisan attacks rather than stand up for local residents.
I receive surprisingly few emails and have never received any abusive emails from anyone but you :p! I do receive emails, though, and try to be as helpful as possible when replying.
Yeah, true enough. Are there any MPs that don’t have a political party, but just spend their time actually doing stuff for their constituents?
Yeah, fair enough.
Hahaha, that’s good to hear!!
My reply to this is too long for a comment, so I have written an article about the subject instead, which I hope will be helpful.
I suspect that Clark is going to receive even more abusive correspondence, now that he has (I hear) been promoted to become the new Rail Minister…
Alan
Sad to say that this ignoring residents views is not confined to Mr Clark. I have been in contact twice with Cllr Chishti regarding the phasing of traffic lights in Rainham, once by e-mail and the other occasion when he was campaigning at Rainham Shopping Centre.
I have not had the courtesy of a reply on either occasion – not good enough I am afraid.
Having said that abuse of anyone MP, Councillor or anyone working with them is unacceptable. Agree or disagree but keep your cool, that surely mus be the golden rule
Rob – there are a (very) small number of MPs who are independent, but I could count them on one hand!
John – thanks for sharing that! I was not intentionally suggesting that we should have more independent MPs, merely more independence within parties for MPs to vote according to either their conscience or their constituents than exists now.
Twydall Man – I am sorry to hear that, though obviously I cannot answer for Cllr Chishti. The point I was making was not that Mr Clark should not refuse to reply to abusive messages, but that such messages were unacceptable and should not be tolerated.
Alan
Accepted what you were thinking; but I was planning to write such an article anyway, and it was intended to be more for information than anything else, but hopefully being useful (at least to some extent) in the above context.
I like to be more broadly informed rather than just specifically on one angle or aspect of one issue, as I have a fairly analytical brain. It was in that mode of thought that I offered my meagre contribution.
As far as Cllr Chishti is concerned: it has to be realised that before someone becomes an MP, it is necessary to continue to earn a living (as there is quite rightly no “pending” allowance or salary) and there is also no allowance for employing office staff.
Therefore it can be difficult keeping up with correspondence, while still being pulled this way and that by the party in respect of campaigning. Comments I have read from PPCs in my party and others too has strongly indicated that it is a hair-raising time, and one is investing in the future, so the present might need to be less than ideal in order to get from here to there. Paul Clark of course does have these allowances, and a well-established office that will have been running for more than eleven years. He has no excuse!
It is all a long way from how I’d want to be, which is one of the range of reasons why I determined some years ago that I would never put myself forward for selection as a candidate.
If it’s any consolation, Cllr Chishti has had two of my VHS tapes for a long time (the first for over two years!) and promises to return them “very soon” whenever I catch him at some event (typically a Council meeting).
I know that he has a lot of balls to keep in the air, so am being very gentle about this; but our Twydall Man’s situation is more important.
In this respect it might be worth one of us (himself, yourself or me) catching Cllr Chishti just before the start of the next Council meeting on 13 November, and have something written down to hand to him (so not depending on his memory which will no doubt be distracted by the business of the evening: I know, I’ve been there myself enough times!)
Would that be helpful? I am sure that he would wish to pursue this, and indeed has probably already initiated the lengthy procedure that all traffic/road issues seem to have to go through. It just wouldn’t do any harm to pursue face-to-face.
As a follow up to Twydall Man’s comment, I have since spoken to Cllr Chishti, who assures me (he has recently checked this) that an email on the subject was sent to one of the relevant Assistant Directors over at Medway Council and copied to you.
In this case, it appears as though you may not have received the email – Cllr Chishti has since sent out a further email in reply.
Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention, else a solution would not have been found.
Thanks Alan
I have received an e-mail from Cllr Chishti showing the original message sent to one of the Assistant Directors raising my concerns.
I have thanked Reh for keeping me informed, and thanks again for chasing this up.
Perhaps I can look forward to spending less time stuck in traffic in Rainham in the future!
Twydall Man