Where was Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith?

The people of Bassetlaw elected Brendan Clarke-Smith as the first Conservative MP for more than 30 years.

In doing this, we must assume the Bassetlaw voters were looking for a change of representation in the Halls of Westminster.

Mr Clarke-Smith has been vocal in his support for Boris Johnson and has often posted strong support messages on Twitter and sometimes on local social media sites.

Indeed, recently Mr Clarke-Smith made a number of Twitter posts about the Commons Privileges Report into Boris Johnson's behaviour, claiming it to be a 'kangaroo court' and that he would speak in support of Mr Johnson and vote against the Privileges Report when it was debated in Parliament.

That debate was held on the afternoon of June 19.

As I watched the debate, it was clear Mr Clarke-Smith was not in the chamber and, when the vote was held, no vote was returned by him. He was clearly not even in the Commons precinct that day.

Now I maybe old-fashioned, but we elect MPs to represent us.

Obviously, it's not possible for an MP to attend every sitting of the House, but on an important matter, concerning the honesty of a past Prime Minister and the depth to which the Commons had been misled, I would have hoped the voters of Bassetlaw would have had their voice heard.

Whether you support Mr Johnson or not, your elected representative should be doing his £86,584-plus-expenses job and giving you a voice in the Commons.

So my question is, where was Mr Clarke-Smith on June 19?

Barrie Shepherd

By email