Marlborough’s MP to step down at next election

It was with sadness that I read in London’s Evening Standard last week that our MP, Michael Ancram will be stepping down at the forthcoming general election for health reasons.

I was also disappointed that The Standard had nothing to say about him beyond the expenses scandal.

Having worked in a large number of London Barristers’ Chambers I find it highly unlikely that someone would choose Politics as a career over Law for financial reasons- I have seen how much barristers get paid! This would lead me to suspect that Michael Ancram probably went in to politics because he actually gave a damn. I have no idea what happened with Mr Ancram’s expenses, but I find it difficult to imagine that it was anything other than a genuine mistake.

I have only met our MP once, when I interviewed him for the St. John’s School newspaper. In the brief time I spent with him, when I was a suspicious, socialist seventeen year old, he appeared to me to be a genuine, intelligent, good man.

Regardless of my being on a different side of the political fence to Mr Ancram, I know very well that this is a man who has achieved a lot more in his political career than most. I don’t mean the fact that he was deputy leader of the Conservative party for four years, or that he has spent an impressive twenty five years as an MP.

Michael Ancram played a hugely significant role in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, transforming the lives of the people of Northern Ireland, hopefully forever. Those people won’t just look back on his political career and remember the expenses scandal, and neither should we.