But with many of today’s MPs obsessed with their local patch, some detect a dearth in the U.K. of high-caliber politicians capable of bestriding the national stage, let alone international affairs.
In the 1800s, some MPs were known to attend their seats only when the horse races were on. In 1994, one MP, who perhaps understandably preferred to remain anonymous, moaned to historian Donald Searing: “You’re opening the same bloody horticultural show or whatever it may be, and going to some cricket dinner year after year.”
Over the past 20 years, however, U.K. MPs have become increasingly local — both in their links to the places they represent, with a trend for parties to select local councilors or residents to contest seats at Westminster, and in the amount of time they devote to constituency matters compared to their other responsibilities.
This focus on constituency politics has become even more intense thanks to the volatility of recent U.K. elections, with many MPs seeing hard work in their local areas — rather than in parliament in the national interest — as the only way to retain seats they never expected to win.
A dangerous trend
Some believe the trend is changing politics for the worse, creating a tranche of MPs so consumed with local concerns they have little time or desire to become the great statesmen and women of the age in the mold of Churchill.
One new Labour MP, granted anonymity in order to speak freely, said they saw a relentless focus on local issues as their only hope of keeping their seat, and were therefore “not remotely interested” in becoming a minister, let alone reaching the Cabinet.
