Some emails stick in your mind for ever, and during the pandemic there have been many of them. The personal stories are the hardest to read, the ones about loved ones in care homes, unable to receive visitors for months on end, the socially distanced funerals, the weddings, postponed again and again and eventually cancelled. But one this week has surpassed all others. It was from a constituent who lost his three-year-old child to a terminal illness. The family abided by all the rules, held a funeral for 30 people, made phone calls to loved ones and relatives and told them they could not attend the funeral because that would break the limit on numbers.
There are those who say these emails are only from “the usual suspects”. It is true to say there have been a smattering from political activists who send an automated email at the drop of a hat, but they are very much in the minority. The bulk of the emails I received last week are from people who are genuinely distressed about the family events they could not and did not attend during the pandemic, and many are from people I know who have long been Conservative supporters.
Twelve years as an MP, and a lifetime spent in the immediate Romsey area, have taught me many things about my constituents. By and large, they are law abiding, they want to do the right thing and they have a strong sense of community, as could be seen by the myriad village support networks that were established at the start of the pandemic. They are the sort of people who are the backbone of this country, hard working, community minded, fair and decent people.
And right now they are angry, because they look to us, as MPs, to be the same, law abiding and decent, to try (sometimes against the odds) to do the right thing and to uphold the rules we set. Of course, none of us are perfect, and I vividly remember during the 2005 general election being asked at the Youth Council hustings if I thought I was a role model. I responded that I thought it very dangerous to put yourself on a pedestal. But when lives depend upon taking action to try to limit the spread of a virus that kills the vulnerable, you have to do your best and play your part.
I recall my sister’s 50th birthday last year, and ordering a stunning cake from Little Bee Bakery in Romsey. It was a thing of beauty, and no doubt absolutely delicious, but I collected it, took it to her back door and dropped it off on the doormat (still in its box, I hasten to add). There was no way I was going to attend a birthday brunch, because it was against the rules. And at that point I had spent a year responding to queries from constituents as to whether x or y was permitted.
I had studied the rules, interpreted the rules, distributed thousands of information sheets via Royal Mail highlighting the rules, the changing phases, dates and so on. By then I was pretty clear as to what was and was not allowed, and so were my constituents. So I have not withdrawn the letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson that I wrote months ago to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, because to do so would be letting down all of those people who spent the pandemic doing the right thing.
Caroline Nokes is the Conservative MP for Romsey & Southampton North
