I have received a well considered reply from Alan Haselhurst, the local Tory MP, to my support for legislation on the recalling of MPs; forcing them to restand for election if they commit serious misdemeanours.

You can read his reply here: Haselhurst_recall.

The final paragraph is very well judged. MPs should not be recalled for vindictive reasons; because people don’t like what they say. The suggestion that an “MP’s freedom of speech should be compromised by being subject to threat of recall at the instigation of a minority” would indeed be anti-democratic.

The same goes for elected councillors, who have been known to be threatened by sanctions for getting under the skins of powerful people who can’t handle criticism.