It’s official, Richard Foord has now formally taken his seat in Parliament, bringing the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons to fourteen strong.
We’ll cover his maiden speech in due course but, in the meantime, here is the moment we’ve all been waiting for…
Honoured to be sworn in as the new Member of Parliament for Tiverton & Honiton. Now to get to work! pic.twitter.com/EjIbOfqfTo
— Richard Foord MP (@RichardFoordLD) June 27, 2022
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9 Comments
Jeeesh. He didn’t exactly whisper it, did he?! Lovely to see though. 14 and counting…
Great to see.
If he thought the last 6 weeks were tough, just wait until he sees his Inbox!
I wonder what the Speaker said to him – another caption competition, anyone?
Out of interest, is it possible when being sworn in as a new member of parliament to make a non-religious declaration?
Terrible that in this day and age MPs have to swear a religious oath to serve not the country or its citizens but the monarch. I live in the 21st century. Clearly the HoC doesn’t.
@ Robert Hale. Yes it is An MP may choose to affirm rather than swear. Several have done so. One example who comes to mind is, I believe, a former LibDem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon.
Btw, those who choose to swear are, I believe, offered a choice of which book they wish to hold while doing so.
Some MPs, with republican feelings, I believe, cross their fingers while swearing allegiance to Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors. Sinn Feign MPs, who are openly Republicans, decline to do so and therefore do not take their seats
Nick Collins: Republicans can take the oath to the monarch with a clear conscience as it refers to her successors according to law, unless they plan to overthrow the monarchy by force. I wonder how many people voted Liberal Democrat recently with the oath of allegiance in mind. If only the party could move on from minority interests and put forward some policies to deal with the problems which concern ordinary people they might win a General Election some day. Sadly I fear that to be unlikely with the present membership and we shall always be a by election party.
Sinn Fein does not refuse to sit at Westminster because of the Oath of Allegiance but because they do not accept Britain’s right to rule the Northern part of Ireland. Their refusal to take their seats at Westminster is not universally popular in the North of Ireland as the SDLP who do sit their regained some seats at the last election because of this.
Sorry I should have typed sit there not sit their. It has been a busy day. I was impressed by the way our new MP for Tiverton and Honiton took the oath in such a firm and decisive manner. I hope he will be an asset to the party but the Boundary Commission have proposed splitting the constituency and attaching Tiverton to Minehead in Somerset.
The people of Northern Ireland voted by a substantial majority to remain in the EU and apparently most people, including business people, are happy with the Protocol agreed about 2 years ago but the Democratic Unionists are not happy with losing their position in the Assembly and are using the Protocol as an excuse not to join the Executive. When asked if they would accept the result of a referendum which favoured reunification of Northern Ireland with Southern Ireland one of the DUP MPs said it would not happen.
I guess the Conservatives want to keep Northern Ireland as Sinn Fein do not attend Westminster but the Unionists do whilst they would not be sad if Scotland went after the Referendum on 19th October 2023 as there would be about 50 less non Conservative MPs in Westminster which no doubt explains their lack of interest in Scotland and willingness to upset them when possible.
@nvelope2003
“I wonder how many people voted Liberal Democrat recently with the oath of allegiance in mind. If only the party could move on from minority interests and put forward some policies to deal with the problems which concern ordinary people they might win a General Election some day. Sadly I fear that to be unlikely with the present membership and we shall always be a by election party.”
Has anyone suggested that the Oath of Allegiance should be a campaigning issue? If not, I fail to see the point of your little rant
Nick Collins: Someone mentioned the Oath of Allegiance and I was commenting on it not ranting as you suggest. However, Liberal Democrat Voice does seem to be very concerned with issues which are unlikely to be of interest to more than a small minority of the electorate and I do not think that is very helpful to the cause but maybe I am wrong.