I am not a political animal but I’ve always voted because women died so that I could vote.
When we left the UK in
2009 Gordon Brown was Prime Minister. Things have changed a lot since then. We missed
the 2010 general election but I will now have my chance to vote again because I
live in the constituency of disgraced Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne. I’ve never met Mr
Huhne – what little I know of him is from what I’ve read in recent newspaper
reports and what I can remember from some dim and distant electoral bumf his
supporters shoved through my doors several years ago. I do remember him personally phoning us up at
home on a previous general election evening to remind us to go and vote, even
though we already had, although not
necessarily for him. My former neighbour happily recounts the story of his daughter handing him the phone on the loo when Mr Huhne phoned their household - obviously a man determined to go to
great lengths to get himself elected.
Personally I don’t care whether Mr
Huhne’s wife took his speeding points willingly or under coercion – we wives do
an awful lot of self-sacrifice in order to support our husband’s careers – as I
continually point out to my loving partner. Mr Huhne must have known that as a politician
every skeleton would one day come out of his closet. This was a man who could
easily afford to take the taxi fares resulting from a speeding ban and while I
often tell my husband he has sold his soul to the corporate dollar devil, Mr
Huhne definitely sold his to further his own personal political ambition. As
always in these cases it is the children who suffer – we are adults and make
our own decisions; unfortunately our children have to live the consequences.
As women we learn very early on
to make sacrifices – especially when it comes to career v family. I was once a PA but exchanged that glittering career to become an undervalued underpaid NHS audio typist – because it meant I could take my kids to school at 9
and pick them up at 3. I have every admiration for anyone who wants a high flying career;
ambition is not a crime, but deception and dishonesty are. Mr Huhne was asking an awful lot to expect
his wife, and his children, to remain forever silent, sacrificing their own
integrity to support him.
Sadly I’m quite sure he is
typical of many politicians. And to
think suffragettes died so that we could vote for men like him - that's what really makes my blood boil.
(Next week I promise to get back
to something light and fluffy.)
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