Live chat with Derek Wyatt MP, Tues 9th March

[Jo7]

Hello

On Tuesday 9th March from 7-8pm we're excited to welcome Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey to live chat.

Don't miss this chance to quiz him on anything from how he became an MP to his views on the next election.

Derek was first elected to the House of Commons in May 1997. He was re-elected in June 2001 and again in May 2005 but will not be standing at the next General Election.

Before being elected as an MP, Derek was Director of The Computer Channel at BSkyB and travelled extensively throughout America to research the internet and to assess its impact. He is now chairman of the All Party Communications group as well as the London 2012, the British Council and the Rugby Union groups.

In 2004, Derek was voted one of the top 100 internet visionaries over the past decade and his website has won three national awards. In January 2010 Derek became the first politician to launch an iPhone app. The MyMP app shows users what their MP is doing; where they are; their surgery hours and location and also lets the public send messages directly to their elected representative.

Derek is also currently involved with the Savvy Citizens campaign - a campaign about education, the value of information and how we access, use and manage it. This week the focus is on Citizenship and as part of that topic they're hosting a debate looking at the impact the internet and social media will have on the next election. The panel for the debate will include a former advisor to Hilary Clinton as well as Guido Fawkes, a political blogger. If you're on twitter, the debate can be followed live @Savvy Citizens. You can also email questions in advance to savvycitizens@bcs.org. Or if facebook is more your thing, check out the fan page here.

So if you've got any questions about three strikes, how the election might go, if MP's live the life of luxury or anything else then come along. If you can't make it then please post your questions here or PM me and we will do our best to include them all on the night

[MoK]

Ahem, you might not want to ask him about expenses though...

ETA He's actually a really nice chap though, I've met him a few times. Shame he's stepping down really.

[Flashman's Ghost]

Originally Posted by MoK

ETA He's actually a really nice chap though, I've met him a few times. Shame he's stepping down really.

MoK being nice about a politico Is this a first?

[I'm With Stupid]

Originally Posted by MoK

Ahem, you might not want to ask him about expenses though...

One Tesco receipt from May 2008 shows that he spent 75p on two scotch eggs and £1.79 on five mini pork pies. Another one from the following month discloses that he spent £1.90 on an individual pork pie.
Mr Wyatt’s basket also included two 1.25-litre bottles of Diet Coca-Cola and a block of organic chocolate. The rest of his shopping was more healthy, however, including two boxes of muesli, bananas, apple juice, pineapple juice, milk and “healthy cheese”.

The monster.

What's your favourite biscuit?

Okay, I'll try to be here, but if not, pretty please could you ask:

With the election coming up, there has been a lot of focus on party donations. Do you believe that in future, donations to political parties should be capped or election campaigns publicly funded to avoid commercial interests influencing policy?

I might come up with a couple more.

His voting record btw, if anyone is interested.

[Teagan]

What practical advice would you give to whoever takes over your seat in the upcoming election, regardless of political persuasion, to be a successful politician?

With hindsight, what vote do you feel you most regret having initially voted for it?

What voting decision are you most proud of?

Were you overly idealistic in what you were hoping to achieve when you joined parliament - and do you feel any cynicism now, at the tail end of your political career?

Ben Bradshaw once stated that as an MP, he had to make decisions (i.e. he towed the party line) even if the decisions were unpopular with his constituents (e.g. supporting the war in Iraq). I believe that, in a democracy, a politician should be prepared to back his constituents and make decisions that are unpopular with the party. What is most important to you? Loyalty to your constituents - or to the political party for whom you stand?

Do you think party politics is one of the causes of the apathy amongst people not willing to come out and vote?

Do you support 'first past the post' and if not, what alternative do you prefer and have you always felt that way?

I feel that once 'idealistic' people join parliament, most succumb to the attraction of power and being in the 'ruling elite', far removed from the day-to-day troubles of the normal person (e.g. the expenses scandal, as an example). Politicians have no idea what inflation, the cost soaring cost of fuel etc is doing to the life of the average, struggling voter. Very few politicians seem to have the stomach to remain principled and fight for the constituents all the way through their career. Do you agree?

[MoK]

Originally Posted by Flashman's Ghost

MoK being nice about a politico Is this a first?

I actually like the man. Weird isn't it.

Also, for those who don't know, he's a former Engalnd international Rugby player, played for the Barbarians too.

Biog

[Flashman's Ghost]

As my previosu questions for tim Loughton were such a hit I'm just going to alter them slightly

http://vbulletin.thesite.org/showpos...99&postcount=5

Have you ever felt the urge to pee in David Cameron's Rice Krispie's?

As a hardened campaigner for social justice what influenced you more: having to go down t'pit at the age of three for tuppence a day or that at prep school your felt looked down on because your parents only employed two maids and a nanny (if you're middle class and pretenious you may know nannies as au pairs)

Are the Lib Dems really as useless and wishy washy as they appear?

[Flashman's Ghost]

Originally Posted by MoK

Also, for those who don't know, he's a former Engalnd international Rugby player, played for the Barbarians too.

Biog

That's not going to endear him to me

[Thunderstruck]

Originally Posted by I'm With Stupid

His voting record btw, if anyone is interested.

Hmmm...

How Derek Wyatt voted on key issues since 2001:

* Voted a mixture of for and against a transparent Parliament
* Voted moderately for introducing a smoking ban
* Voted very strongly for introducing ID cards
* Voted strongly for introducing student top-up fees
* Voted strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws
* Voted moderately against the Iraq war
* Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war

My opinion of him has just gone down about 1,000,000%

ID cards, student top-up fees, the anti-terrorism gestapo and no investigation into Iraq?

Would love to see how he worms out of questions about those.

[morrocan roll]

We have just bailed the banks out to the tune of billions.
The country is about to go bankrupt cos we owe the banks billions.
Does this make sense to him?
Would he have the bottle to stand for government printing and circulating it's own currency.

[stargalaxy]

I'm amazed the utterly shameless cunt has any time to come and talk on this forum, given the fact he's currently appealing against having to pay back some of his expenses. Still, I always look forward to being talked at by some government apparachik.

[Aladdin]

Originally Posted by Thunderstruck

Hmmm...



My opinion of him has just gone down about 1,000,000%

ID cards, student top-up fees, the anti-terrorism gestapo and no investigation into Iraq?

Would love to see how he worms out of questions about those.

Out of curiosity, how can one vote 'moderately' or 'strongly' for something? I thought it'd be either 'for' or 'against'...

[wooooooooah]

Originally Posted by Aladdin

Out of curiosity, how can one vote 'moderately' or 'strongly' for something? I thought it'd be either 'for' or 'against'...

It's a percentage of support for several votes related to the issue.

[Jim V]

Originally Posted by stargalaxy

I'm amazed the utterly shameless cunt has any time to come and talk on this forum, given the fact he's currently appealing against having to pay back some of his expenses. Still, I always look forward to being talked at by some government apparachik.

A little harsh don't you think SG? He is at least giving you the chance to ask any question you might have, so might be nice not to just insult him.

[Teagan]

Originally Posted by Jim V

A little harsh don't you think SG? He is at least giving you the chance to ask any question you might have, so might be nice not to just insult him.

Unfortunately, that's SG these days. Something changed in him in the last year or so and it wasn't for the better, unfortunately.