By Phil Venues
TO the annoyance of many, Cumbrian Labour MP Josh MacAlister (OBE) frequently sprays around nonsense political buzzwords – his most baffling being “roadblocks”.
But one of the biggest roadblocks in West Cumbria is the one erected by his office to stop voters from ever spontaneously meeting His Majesty.
Any member of the proletariat wanting a word in person with West Cumbria’s “man of the people” cannot simply turn up at his constituency office in Whitehaven and chew the fat with the area’s representative in Westminster.
Oh no.
The MP’s new office, which finally opened in December, is SHUT to walk-ins off the street, bringing to mind shades of Covid.
The Great Unwashed are only permitted to enter if they have a previously approved appointment by his team.
(So much for open Government!)
Incredibly, the MP also chose to site his office on the first floor of a large building which is not “accessible” to disabled people.
As well as amateurish, this looks like discrimination; a word not uncommon to the ex-teacher, who has recently been sloganeering that Labour is “fixing the front door” of doctors’ surgeries to make it easier to get appointments!
Anyone tired of all the roadblocks surrounding Josh’s office will also find that his public coffee mornings are not so public either.
This is despite shouts on his Facebook Page for the public to “pop in and say hello”.
People can do no such thing.
Some have complained about not being able to get an appointment on his Facebook page, which appears to be controlled by, er, SEVEN managers.
(Keep in mind this is a coffee morning – not a meeting of the G7).
To gain access you are required to REGISTER with his office in advance.
NONE of the public venues where Josh plans to hold a public coffee morning are ever published in advance, although dates, places and times are.
Rather like a secret warm-up gig by a famous rock band preparing for a tour, the specific venue is kept under wraps.
(This is probably to prevent crowds of ecstatic voters from turning up to applaud the Landslide Labour Government for all its stunning work thus far.)
Voters accepted for entrance to one of the MP’s “public” coffee mornings are only told two days before where the venue is.
But they are urged NOT to share details of it with anyone.
If you DO register and ARE deemed worthy of entry but you turn up accompanied by someone who HASN’T registered, they WON’T be allowed in, or so goes the MP’s rules.
Why is a ‘League Two’ MP acting like he’s the President of the US of A and seeing snipers on grassy knolls everywhere?
The stock answer by politicians to curtail members of the public from seeing them is often attributed to “security reasons”.
Maybe so, but this is also a convenient go-to phrase for those who might want to swerve face-to-face public accountability.
If MPs are really so concerned about their personal security, why do they go around knocking on random doors at election time?
Not just in their own constituencies but supporting candidates in other constituencies too?
And if security at MP events really needs to be so tight, why aren’t members of the public told about the risks of attending a meeting.
Is the threat level to an MP at a coffee morning in a tiny West Cumbrian village so severe?
If it is, couldn’t security guards or bodyguards be hired?!
One accusation which has circulated is that pre-registration allows Labour Party gatekeepers in his office to vet anyone who wants to meet him.
In a small area like West Cumbria are those angsty constituents with an axe to grind deemed “persona non grata” by his handlers and never allowed an audience with His Nibs?
We’ll never know.
His team also says that it needs registration details to make sure that there are sufficient refreshments available to everyone going along.
Really?
Another justification is that his office needs to know who’s a constituent and who isn’t, and to keep track of numbers to check the venue has capacity for those attending.
But at a recent coffee morning, only 20 people got a Golden Ticket to meet the MP when the vast venue chosen had capacity for so many more.
What’s coming next? Metal detectors, cavity searches and fingerprints?
Or are these high walls of petty bureaucracy really about the over-reactions of an MP wanting to dodge the scrutiny of those who voted for him?
We’ll let you decide.
But whatever the truth, these dodges also conveniently help stage-manage Josh’s every public appearance and ensure every event has no possibility for public discontent.
How positively Kremlinesque!
thecumbriachronic.co.uk 
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