rhys bevan diary

I Have Represented This Constituency for Six Years Today, and I Spent the Anniversary Rereading My Own Maiden Speech, Genuinely Unsure Whether I Have Lived Up to What I Promised in It

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I Have Represented This Constituency for Six Years Today, and I Spent the Anniversary Rereading My Own Maiden Speech, Genuinely Unsure Whether I Have Lived Up to What I Promised in It – Six years ago I stood up in the Commons and made a lot of confident promises. Today felt like the right day to actually go back and check my own homework.

I Voted Against My Own Party’s Whip Today for the First Time in Six Years in Parliament, and the Specific Weight of That Decision Has Not Fully Settled Even Hours Later

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I Voted Against My Own Party’s Whip Today for the First Time in Six Years in Parliament, and the Specific Weight of That Decision Has Not Fully Settled Even Hours Later – Six years of consistent party loyalty. One genuinely difficult vote tonight that I could not, in good conscience, cast the way I was asked to.

I Spent Today Touring a Local Factory Facing Genuine Closure, and I Left With Considerably Less Confidence in My Own Party’s Current Economic Messaging Than I Walked in With

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I Spent Today Touring a Local Factory Facing Genuine Closure, and I Left With Considerably Less Confidence in My Own Party’s Current Economic Messaging Than I Walked in With – The official talking points sound fine in Westminster. Standing on an actual factory floor with workers about to lose their jobs, they sounded considerably thinner.

My Surgery Today Ran Five Hours Over Because a Single Constituent’s Housing Case Turned Out to Involve Four Separate Government Departments Refusing to Talk to Each Other

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My Surgery Today Ran Five Hours Over Because a Single Constituent’s Housing Case Turned Out to Involve Four Separate Government Departments Refusing to Talk to Each Other – One family. One genuinely urgent housing problem. Four departments, each insisting the other was responsible. I spent the whole afternoon just trying to get anyone to actually pick up a phone.