The stinking proxy

I think Labour have miscalculated by taking Field’s proxy vote, and the stench of his vote will continue to cause them harm.

It’s one thing for Field to decide to still vote for the Government. No-one can stop him doing that, and he was elected on a platform of supporting the Government.

But it is quite another thing for the Labour Whips to be casting his proxy vote for him when he is not there, away from Parliament on full pay. There was around an hour of points or order yesterday on the legality of this. It was of course ruled legal, but was sucessful in drawing publicity to the fact that Labour have accepted his proxy.

John Armstrong writes on how what was godo news is starting to turn bad:

An arrangement extremely convenient in restoring the Government’s majority now has the look of utter expedience.

How can Labour justify accepting the proxy vote of someone whom it has just slung out of its caucus? How can it rely on the vote of someone whose behaviour has been described by the Prime Minister as immoral and unethical?

Indeed.