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JOHN HIPWOOD SITS DOWN WITH . . .MARK PRITCHARD mpWrekin onthe Right linesEurosceptic MP keen to understand theworld outside WestminsterWith David Cameron.John Hipwood has walked thecorridors of Westminster andWhitehall for 35 years, and is a pastchairman of both the ParliamentaryPress Gallery and the ParliamentaryLobby Journalists. He was alsotwice chairman of the NewspaperConference, the body of Londoncorrespondents of regionalnewspapers.He lives in Kent and his interestsinclude walking, birding, golf andwatching successive governmentsshooting themselves in both feet.Lord Nelson keeps an eye on us acrossthe Whitehall rooftops, and insidethe MP’s office several shelves arelined with photographs of foreign leadersand former UK prime ministers, includingMargaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and GordonBrown.The MP appearing in all the photos isMark Pritchard, leading ConservativeEuro-sceptic, security expert, wild animalcampaigner, dog lover – and lots more.Mr Pritchard is very clear about what hesees as the job of a Member of Parliament,and it’s not confined to dealing withcracked pavements in the constituency.“A good MP needs to be local, nationaland international,” said The Wrekin MP.In other words, MPs should be ‘going places’beyond their constituency boundaries andbreaking out of the claustrophobic villagethat is Westminster SW1.Mr Pritchard fiercely defends the rightof MPs to travel abroad with all-partyparliamentary groups, and criticisessections of the media for suggesting thatMPs only travel for personal pleasure, toenjoy ‘junkets’ or further their own ratherthan the national interest.“A small-minded and isolationist narrativehas developed that if MPs travel attaxpayers’ expense, it is wrong; when theytravel as a guest of a host government, itis wrong; when they travel at the expenseof the private sector, NGO or a charity, it iswrong – even when everything is publiclydeclared.“The shorthand is that MPs should remainin the Westminster bubble 365 days a year.MPs must have the political latitude to getout of that bubble and be better informedabout the world they live in,” said TheWrekin MP.QuestionedAn MP’s weekly journey – fromconstituency to London – should be easyenough, but Mr Pritchard isn’t altogetherhappy about his commute, and hasquestioned whether one of his train serviceproviders, London Midland, should have itsfranchise renewed.“London Midland has introduced somenew rolling stock, which is welcome.However, it still appears to be in a positionof not having enough drivers at weekends.“There is also a need for closer cooperationwith Network Rail. A lot ofpeople buy a ticket completely unawarethat engineering work is planned. Only atthe last minute do they find their servicehas been cancelled, which disrupts orcompletely ruins their schedule.“There is still often overcrowding on thetrains,” added the Conservative MP.“If London Midland is to have its franchiseextended beyond the current temporarysix months, it has to raise its game.Otherwise I will be campaigning to givethe franchise to somebody else who canprovide a better service.”Beyond Shropshire’s boundaries, MrPritchard believes Virgin services also needimprovement.“Traditionally Virgin has provided a verygood service to Shropshire customersvia Wolverhampton. However, in recentmonths the number of Pendolinos hasbeen reduced in favour of Voyager trainswhich are noisier and cramped. I havewritten to Virgin Trains saying that, in theirhunger to win the East Coast franchise,they should not take their eye off the ballin delivering quality services on the WestCoast line.”Mr Pritchard said he also wanted to seeuniversal free wi-fi on train services andbetter telephone connectivity.“The number of dropped calls is a barrierto business growth. Time spent on the trainshould not be wasted, and for many it isworking time.“With people nowadays able to makeThe member for The Wrekinwith Lady Thatcher❝The number of dropped calls is a barrierto business growth. Time spent on the trainshould not be wasted, and for many it isworking time.❞calls from aeroplanes, there is no excusefor dropped calls on trains.”For those who wish to, or have to, risk thevagaries of our motorways, there is still achance, he believes, of an improved linkbetween the M54 and the M6/M6 Toll.SpooksWhen the Shropshire MP does reachWestminster, much of his time is nowoccupied by his membership of the JointCommittee on National Security Strategy,which is chaired by former Labour deputyleader and foreign secretary MargaretBeckett, and is made up largely of formerministers and “spooks”.Prime Minister Cameron warned lastmonth that the crises in Syria and Iraqposed the greatest threat to security in theUK. Did Mr Pritchard agree?“Britain is certainly a less safe place todaythan it was even two years ago,” hereplied guardedly.“Many of the roots of this come out of theIraq invasion, but not entirely. They comeout of a sectarian war between someparts of the Muslim community which hasbeen running for hundreds of years.“And what happens over there in thisglobal world matters over here, whetherthat is in disruption to oil supplies, which willimpact on every household in Shropshire,or whether it is preventing genocide andmajor humanitarian crises.”Unlike some of his Conservativecolleagues, Mr Pritchard supports theCoalition Government’s decision to26 27