Tory MPs have ‘never worked harder’, says Jeremy Hunt after ‘zombie parliament’ accusations
Conservative MPs have “never worked harder”, the chancellor has claimed following accusations Rishi Sunak is presiding over a “zombie parliament”.
The average length of a Commons sitting day has been shorter this parliamentary session than any other in the past 25 years, according to analysis by the Financial Times.
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But Jeremy Hunt insisted on Friday that constituency work was the most important part of an MP’s job, and parliamentarians were working harder than ever in their seats.
The chancellor told reporters: “I think that there are lots of things people want from their MPs but more laws being passed is probably not top of the list.
“I think the most important thing is how hard MPs are working in their constituencies, and I would say, certainly when it comes to Conservative MPs, I’ve never seen a parliament where Conservative MPs have worked harder than this parliament to do the right thing for their constituents.”
The prime minister’s official spokesman said the government was delivering “a packed legislative agenda” with 26 bills introduced in the current session and remained “committed to facilitating debates on critical issues”.
MPs’ jobs involve more than speaking and voting in the Commons chamber, and include participating in other parliamentary business such as select committees and helping constituents.
Jeremy Hunt claimed Conservative MPs have ‘never worked harder’. Pic: PA
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But the FT’s findings have led to accusations that the current session is a “zombie parliament”, with little legislative work being done and the Commons often rising early.
The average duration of a Commons sitting day in the current parliamentary session, which started in November, has been seven hours and nine minutes – a record low since New Labour came to power in 1997, the newspaper found.
On 5 March, the day before the budget, the Commons sat for less than four and a half hours.
But even before the current session, Labour had criticised the government for a lack of parliamentary business.
In June last year, after the Commons had sat on one day for less than three hours, the then shadow leader of the house Thangam Debbonaire asked: “How are Tory ministers spending their time?
“Because they are clearly not delivering in their departments. Are they racing home to watch daytime TV instead?”
At the time, a Number 10 spokesperson denied this was the case, saying there were “a number of important pieces of legislation going through the House”.
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Politics
Norman Tebbit: Former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government dies aged 94
Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.
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