Chris Coghlan might be ‘the most spineless MP in Britain’ as per an article in today’s Telegraph.
I have taken the view over the last year that our MP needs to get on with the job of representing the constituency and its residents. Ultimately we all want good representation for Dorking & Horley and all of those villages in-between - Bookham, West Vale, South Holmwoods, Leigh, Capel, Charlwood, Ockley and so on.
Now of course I cannot comment without some bias because, after all, I was the candidate who lost to him last year and nobody likes losing. But I think it is fair to say that apart from criticising him for not supporting a national inquiry into the grooming gangs, I have remained quiet and let him get on with the job.
To be fair, he seems to have done some things well – our MP has been pictured pointing at numerous potholes across the constituency and has seemingly settled comfortably into the role of roving local councillor across villages from Fetcham to Beare Green to Hookwood. Of course he has also led the attack on Surrey SEND standing up for parents who are struggling against the system which is truly important work. The fact that in doing this he has been happy to air bits of misinformation that play with the careers of social workers and the stability of families doesn’t seem to bother him - but then we know by now how much the Surrey Lib Dems like to be economical with the truth. They are known for deliberate misinformation by all the other political parties collectively.
But this issue with the Catholic church brings me back to the campaign last year - and the hustings in which Chris revealed his fundamental lack of conviction and values as well as his ability to get riled when people don’t agree with him and challenge his moralistic posturing. Having drifted between various parties over the years, Conservatives, Renew, Independent and now Lib Dems, he had shown his lack of loyalty or maybe more his inability to hold deep values and principles from the start. At every husting he delivered the same speech by note and answered questions with guarded, bland deflections rather than drawing on any sort of real belief or conviction on the topics being discussed. By the time polling day came last year, I knew I was going to lose but I would rather have lost to the Labour or Green candidate who at least really believed in what they were saying!
Back to the article – Chris did not need to expose his priest on social media and instead could have requested a meeting or written to him - or even just accepted that the priest holds his own very deep values around his religion and is perfectly entitled to express them in his church as Chris expressed his in his Parliamentary position.
Instead he tried to use public pressure to coerce a priest into going against one of the most foundational teachings of his faith. Being an MP does not make you an all-mighty power, and the complaint about the priest signing off on his children’s access to the Catholic school rather suggests that our MP has whipped this issue up for a reason beyond his professed outrage at being denied Mass.
Ultimately, this is NOT about whether or not you agree with assisted dying or whether you support the Catholic faith – it is about a lack of strongly held purpose and conviction and the need to also recognise other people’s values and beliefs and have equal respect for them.
Even more so what Chris has seemingly lost sight of is that he is in Parliament to represent residents and not himself. Having made the decision on which way to vote - one which polls suggest would have been backed by at least 50% + of his constituents – he then needed to get on with continuing to grapple with all the other issues we face. This includes the illegal immigrants sweeping into the country in higher numbers than we have ever seen, the fact NHS services are being withdrawn from Dorking despite residents paying more tax than ever and the fact that despite his manifesto commitments he has not reduced the cost of living for residents, nor fixed the NHS nor stopped the sewage.
It was all too easy to campaign on spurious slogans to gain attention and momentum during the election - but I think we are now seeing that they were backed with strikingly little substance and conviction. We need MPs with deep principles who act like statesmen and do not get embroiled in public spats on X
