Monday, January 23, 2006

Should Mark Oaten Resign His Seat?

The word on the street is that the good burghers of Winchester are rebelling and far from feeling sorry for their Member of Parliament, they want rid of him. This is leading to calls from some quarters for him to resign his seat and cause a by-election. The phone lines are said to be red hot in Cowley Street. Lord Rennard will be desperately trying to ensure that Oaten does not such thing but will be making contingency plans just in case. I hope Francis Maude is doing just the same. I'd say it's 50-50 as to whether he will actually pull the plug on his political career. If the gossip on PoliticalBetting.com is true and the "act so vile that the News of the World can't print it" is as gross as we are being led to believe then maybe he will be left with little alternative. The jokes are already in circulation and won't be repeated here, but Mark Oaten would need the courage of an Ox to show his face in the House of Commons at the moment. My personal view is that I hope he doesn't resign and rides out the storm. No doubt I'll be accused of having dubious morals myself for having some sympathy with him, but so be it. He's done wrong. He's been hypocritical. He's deceived his wife and his constituents. And probably much more besides. But an unholy witchhunt seems to be emerging. And remember the last man to fall victim of a political witchhunt? His name was David Kelly, and we all know what happened to him. Mark Oaten is a fallible human being. Let him have the time to recover his dignity, if not his political career.

UPDATE: 7.12pm Oaten's local paper is, according to ITN, calling on him to resign his seat. And he's been called to a meeting of his local party. Hat-tip to Andrea on PoliticalBetting.com

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

If he goes the same way as Kelly it will be for the same reason. Guilt

Anonymous said...

I wonder who the tories would stick in at a byelection? The lovely Caroline Noakes from next-door Romsey maybe?

Anonymous said...

My view on this is that if he is able to get on with his responsibilities as an MP, he should not resign.

If the revelations mean he cannot do that, he should resign.

prolix said...

Not sure if it was intentional Iain but the link to Political betting in the main body of this post actually links to Guido (order-order.com).

Enough of my pedantry.

Anonymous said...

Mark's home page is still carrying a subheadline 'Prostitution strategy a missed opportunity'.



http://www.markoaten.com/index.phtml

Anonymous said...

Yes

Anonymous said...

Yes.

Paul Linford said...

Anonymous - that is a disgraceful comment about Dr David Kelly who was hounded to his death by this wretched government.

Serf said...

I have given my view on this over at Once More

Anonymous said...

Local resident.

He should resign as Winchesters MP immediately. I cannot support or trust him now