Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

Who reads blogs? It is a question I often ask myself, having a list of my own favourites to be looked at each morning. Well the statistics are astonishing. Last month I had 220,000 hits, compared with under 14,000 a year ago. I started it at the beginning of 2007. Also my website has grown from 5,000 to 12,000 in the same period of time. Yesterday I enjoyed recording a discussion on the future of post offices on my website. A number of my parliamentary colleagues tell me that I am unwise to do a blog each day, saying it will come back to haunt me, or that the time it takes up to write is excessive. I disagree. 

There is something rather comical about the Peter Jones list published at the end of last week. It is somewhat bizarre to have such a list but not to tell anybody in case they make a claim. I, for one, never knew such a list existed and have never made a claim on any of the items mentioned. I suspect I am not alone.

In my constituency I went into a number of shops and it was the source of much amused comment. One shop owner, who was expecting me, simply fell about laughing when I walked through the door. In another shop, I was admiring a Victorian desk – the antique dealer suggested with a completely straight face that perhaps I could purchase it on my allowances. Of course I realise that whatever happens, however transparent MPs are, there will be criticism. Throughout history it was ever thus.

Interestingly enough whilst out canvassing (we have two by-elections this week) there was no such banter. People were genuinely exercised about the Budget, were complaining about energy costs, motoring and council taxes. There was a notable level of understanding of how the profligacy of the Government has made us vulnerable in this period of economic slowdown. Doorstep attitudes confirmed our lead in the polls. It will get worse as in my experience doorstep comments are reflected in the polls about a fortnight later.

At a time when MPs pay is under the spotlight (quite understandably) the new Chief Executive of Suffolk is to be paid £220,000 per annum. Officials of our East of England Strategic Health Authority all get well into six figures too, although it has never been clear to me what they actually do.

It is simply part of the reason why public spending has ricocheted out of control in this country. It is indeed senior figures in local government and quangos who have never had it so good.   

Over the weekend, a row erupted after troops in Cambridgeshire were advised against wearing their uniforms in public to avoid being insulted. This was to the surprise of other troops in the region who said they had always been well received in the area – including in Bury St Edmunds, which is partially in my constituency. 

Back in December, very crowded streets welcomed home the Royal Anglian Regiment. They received a rapturous reception. They were there to receive the freedom of the Borough of St Edmundsbury. There was certainly no hostility shown towards these courageous men and women on that day. 

It is appalling to think that, even in their own country, there could ever be no-go areas for our Armed Forces. Whether we support the war in Iraq or not, we should all feel proud to have brave men and women prepared to make huge sacrifices on our behalf. They should be able to wear their uniforms with pride. 

Our soldiers have had and continue to have, the grimmest of times in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is widely accepted that they are not being properly supported. It is vital that the military covenant is upheld. We must ensure that their families, as well as veterans, are properly looked after - something that Labour has failed to do sufficiently. 

The Conservative Party has now launched a Commission to look at the state of the Military Covenant. It is being chaired by Frederick Forsyth and includes ex-servicemen and military experts such as the Falklands war veteran, Simon Weston and the distinguished military historian, Sir John Keegan. 

Our Armed Forces have fully honoured their part of the bargain. It is now time for us as a country to fulfil our side, and includes showing respect for those in uniform. 

Some years ago an elderly relative told me that her pre-war parents were quite self consciously modern, enjoying cocktails and rather minimalist décor. Needless to say, it was a fad that passed. 

I was reminded of this looking at an advertising insert in one of the weekend newspapers, showing very expensive contemporary furniture. Today many people want to live in rooms that are light and airy, often on bare floorboards and without clutter. They do not like eighteenth and nineteenth century brown English furniture. It is totally out of fashion. 

Coupled with the current financial squeeze, the result is that it is now pretty cheap. A mahogany bureau will sell for less than it did twenty years ago. Antique shops have disappeared and dealers are not having an easy time. Of course very high quality furniture continues to do well, but run of the mill antique English furniture is now relatively and absolutely inexpensive, despite being well built and something which will last. I was looking at such pieces in Suffolk over the weekend. 

I suspect that rather like those who do well in the stock market, it is time to be contrarian. I personally regret not having the space or the resources to do this myself. I do feel is that the sometimes rather soulless fashionable look of today will pass, and good old mahogany will be desirable again one day, as it always has been. 

Harold Macmillan once said that Archbishop Makarios was too big for Cyprus, so skilled a cleric – cum - politician he was. As a boy I once saw him in Nicosia, and thought this hugely exciting.

I thought about the Macmillan comment last week at a memorial service for John Knight, a remarkably strong and forceful local government figure in Suffolk. He was the founding father of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, recently voted the best in England. He would have been a successful Government Minister had he chosen this route.

On the same day I met with the two district councils in my constituency, councillors and officers. Suffolk is under the spotlight for considerable possible reorganisation in local government, with all the uncertainty that brings. Having seen NHS reorganisations, it is very unclear to me that local government reorganisations ever really improve local services. The hidden costs of change are enormous, and people, in losing the familiar, become further alienated from voting at all.

There are always tensions between central and local government. Giving free bus passes across the country to over 60s is going to be expensive for local authorities who will essentially be picking up the bill for this government initiative. Also at times the relationship between MPs and local councils can be fraught, even if of the same party. MPs tend get local media coverage and local councillors activities are often unnoticed. Sometimes MPs feel that local councillors do not think through the political implications of decisions taken.

Having seen how disastrously the public sector manages reorganisations, and the considerable salaries and pay-offs involved, I dread what lies in store for us. We now have parish, district and county councils, regional assemblies, Westminster and Brussels. No wonder so many people feel alienated from the whole process.

It is extraordinary to see the passion surrounding Newcastle United. By contrast over the years football supporters in Suffolk have learned to be rather more sanguine about the prospects for Ipswich Town!

Looking at all those shirts emblazed with Northern Rock, the very best that Messrs Brown and Darling can hope for is a draw in terms of public opinion. However tempting it is to explore the parallel of the team manager being fired (again) let us confine us to the world of nationalisation, administration or securitisation.   

William Hague, at a very enjoyable dinner for Conservative MPs last week, made the point that one of the great revelations of 2007 was the inability of Gordon Brown to make decisions. Instead of cutting the losses last autumn and selling the Northern Rock to the private sector, we have had months of shilly shallying deeply damaging to the image of the British banking sector, and banking regulations. Now it would appear (Brussels willing) the debts are to be effectively guaranteed, as are the deposits, whilst a sale is being orchestrated to the private sector. For the taxpayer it will be most likely be very expensive indeed, compared with four months ago. The failure of Northern Rock was due to the malfunctioning of the so-called tripartite system, a Brown-Balls invention, whereby neither the FSA, the Treasury nor the Bank of England took the lead to minimise the fallout. Now the Government wants to strengthen the powers of the FSA, when it should be the Bank of England surveying liquidity with eagle eyes, and acting pre-emptively. Poor Gordon will do anything to avoid the word nationalisation, so inappropriately endorsed by the Liberal Democrats, yet the taxpayer will certainly be massively involved.

Life is suddenly becoming rather expensive for the taxpayer; food, fuel and council taxes are being noticed as never before in the past decade, and now governmental procrastination may lead to the biggest taxpayer exposure in history.

PS. Are people really noticing? Well last week I talked about a town council by-election in my constituency in what until recently was the home of many Labour supporters. There was not exactly a massive desire to vote, but for those who did an incredible 70% voted Conservative.    

Of course it is desirable for people to be treated at home, and not in hospital; people naturally would prefer not to go into hospital if possible.

However, up and down the country GPs are being pleaded with not to send patients to hospital. In hospitals in Suffolk, beds have been cut by 20% over the past 10 years. This is why our local hospitals are more or less permanently on black alert, why such high bed capacity encourages viruses and bugs. Vomiting and diarrhoea bugs are commonplace and frankly many of my constituents are now scared to go into hospital. Community nurses tell me of patients discharged prematurely, who should still be in hospital. It is a nightmare for our nurses, doctors and ancillary workers.

We are an ageing population. Our NHS is now run by obsessive bureaucracy which tries to fulfil centralised targets. Our health outcomes compare poorly with many of our European counterparts.

Where has all the money gone? Certainly not into hospital beds, which are now chronically in short supply. And fantastically there are now more people managing and organising the NHS then there are beds. You couldn’t make it up.     

Ming Campbell addressed a Liberal Democrat conference in my constituency on Saturday, not that you would have noticed. Suffolk is not exactly heaving with Liberal Democrats, and certainly not in Mildenhall. 

A relation of mine once stood as a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, and was perfectly honest in admitting that she made up a lot of her policies. Just as well. 

They have prospered because people who have been disillusioned with confrontational party politics could make their protest. Now they cannot agree about anything, whether on tax or Europe. Many decent Liberal Democrats will be revolted if they commit patricide and be put off voting for them, as they will look collectively, rather nasty and ungrateful. 

There is no guarantee that a new leader will do better. It is them, not their leader that is the problem. None of the contenders have the passion and leadership of Paddy Ashdown, or sheer likeability of Charles Kennedy. So they should be very cautious indeed before they stick the yellow knife in.