Gillan dismisses letter as political stunt

Sep 30 2010 By Lawrence Poole, Buckinghamshire Advertiser

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READERS have been inundating our newsdesk with letters calling on Cheryl Gillan to resign her cabinet job as Secretary of State for Wales.

Last week, we reported that Great Missenden Village Association had written to the MP for Amersham and Chesham to ask her to quit the cabinet job if HS2 goes ahead and to fight the plans from the back benches.

The article provoked a flurry of correspondence supporting these calls.

Mrs Gillan hit back yesterday accusing the campaign group of playing politics.

She denounced the letter as a 'political stunt' by Seb Berry - the Liberal Democrat nominee in the Great Missenden by-election on October 21 - and stood firm that she was still best positioned to serve her constituents and battle the HS2 development from inside the government.

On the letter calling for her to resign sent by the Great Missenden Village Association, she said: "This is a political stunt by a Liberal Democrat who is trying to score points and this is far too serious an issue to play games with.

"I have always been against a high-speed rail line coming through my constituency and quite frankly I think these calls for me to resign are ridiculous when I would be much better serving my constituents as a member of the cabinet where I'll have much more involvement than from the back benches as the letter suggests.

"There is still a very long way to go before the HS2 line gets the go-ahead and I will continue to campaign against it right through to the consultations next year.

"At last week's meeting the Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, was left under no illusions as to the strength of the opposition to the line and I was pleased various campaigning parties were able to attend and show their feelings.

"My standpoint has never wavered and perhaps this Liberal Democrat should consult his leader, Nick Clegg, and gauge his opinion before attempting such a political stunt."

Seb Berry hit back at Mrs Gillan's claims, saying: "The problem is that she is now a very senior member of the government and cabinet members have to toe the government line whether they like it or not.

"We need to know therefore that our local MP would fight publicly on our behalf in the event that the Department for Transport confirms the Misbourne Valley route as its preferred scheme. The only way she could do that is from the backbenches of the Commons, not as a cabinet minister sharing in the collective responsibility for the decision.

"We hope that Cheryl Gillan would do the decent thing in those circumstances and that she will confirm that publicly. In doing so, she would be sending a very powerful message to her colleagues in government and I would be the first to congratulate her for doing so.

"This is not a party point. We would be saying exactly the same thing if we had a Lib Dem MP locally holding a Ministerial post. Last week, Jeremy Wright MP, a government Conservative whip told Channel 4 News that he would put his constituents' concerns before loyalty to the government. Mr Wright was quoted as saying: 'My constituency has always been most important to me. I've made it quite clear to my constituents that if I didn't believe that I could do my job effectively as their advocate and their representative and simultaneously be a minister, then I would not be a minister.' Good for him."