The constituency surgery is at the heart of an MP's job. The tradition is now under even greater threat
SIR DAVID AMESS was the quintessential local MP. When party whips whispered that he might become a minister if he voted the right way, he laughed. When his invitation to the Leigh Duck Race, where the local scout group ceremonially released hundreds of rubber ducks, went missing, his staff turned his office upside down. His relentless campaign to have Southend-on-Sea, the town in his constituency, recognised as a city is the stuff of parliamentary legend.
Speeches in the House of Commons attract more attention, but all MPs have a second job akin to that of a social worker: supporting asylum claims, dealing with benefit enquiries, looking into anti-social behaviour and so on. When the system works, the latter informs the former. Appalled by the death of an elderly constituent who died in a cold house, Sir David introduced legislation to tackle fuel poverty.
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