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Highs and lows of an Oldham MP
Reporter: LOBBY CORRESPONDENT
Date online: 12 July 2010
AN Oldham MP has revealed his innermost thoughts in a personal diary kept in the run-up to the election.
Phil Woolas kept the diary from January 1 to May 9 in the final four months of Labour being in power.
In an entry on January 6, the Oldham East and Saddleworth MP stated that he feared his chances of winning the election were “slim”.
But days before the election he wrote despite nationally it being a “car crash” for Labour, the reception in the constituency was good.
Mr Woolas said Labour would have won a forth term under Tony Blair and recounts the visit to Oldham by Gordon Brown which went so well — only to be ruined half-an-hour later when in Rochdale the then Prime Minister was caught calling a Labour voter “a bigoted woman.”
Mr Woolas also revealed at times he questioned whether it was all worth it.
He wrote: “I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t want to do this any more.
“It is physically exhausting, the abuse and hassle is awful, the volume of work is simply so much that you can’t do it all or even half of it.”
He added that the job was a calling, an addiction and feared the Tories would “wreck it for everyone”.
The Oldham MP said the expenses scandal left him unable to eat or sleep and constantly being Labour’s fall guy in the national media left him drained.
The final entry details how the numerous recounts on election night and the following day — which saw him retain his seat with a 103 majority — made him ill.
Mr Woolas said of the diary: “I wanted people to know the realities of the high-profile job and that politicians are just human beings like everyone else.
“It is a very honest diary reflecting my highs and lows.
”The truth is that much political activity is misrepresented by the prism of the Westminster Village.”
Comments
I always dislike MP's complaining about working conditions, “It is physically exhausting, the abuse and hassle is awful..." says Mr Woolas. Compared to the conditions of a labourer working outside in Winter I suspect they are pretty good.
And in respect to the truths of political activity being
"misrepresented by the prism of the Westminster Village". No. Its misrepresented by people like you, who talk soundbites.
It must be a hard life, with fact finding trips all round the world and MP's getting so drunk at the commons bar (where they can smoke inside), that they have to be put in a taxi (at the tax payers expense) to be taken home.
The only stress seems to be election time when they may miss the gravy train.
He wrote: “I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t want to do this any more.
If only he had remained true to that sentence we'd all be a lot happier in Saddleworth, as it is we have to put up with him for the next five years.
i just hope that soon we'll see the back of woolas!
he has never done anything positive for oldham and saddleworth and only jumps on band wagons when their fights are pratically won!
labour would not have won a fourth term as blairs decisions had already paved the way to this countries destruction!
at least he knew when to bow out before things got really bad! something gordon brown never realised!
Two points! Tony Blair would not have won the recent election, the past policies were the reason for losing, not the actual personalities involved. The last Government was too like previous Conservative ones. Phil Woolas is and has been a good MP who works hard and cares about his constituency. For the work they do and the importance of that work, MP's are not overpaid. Family doctors carry similar workloads and maybe MP's ought to get similar incomes. [I believe around £100,000?]
Minerva, still a bit puzzled about the bit about woolas being a good mp.
which bits have been good? because i certainly never saw any.
the only good thing he ever did was make me laugh when he was made to squirm under pressure by joanna lumley
Minerva, obviously you must be a supporter of Phil Woolas. Have you read the readers lettes about his failure to respond to his constituents pleas for his help? His reaction was to accuse these poor people of running a campaign against him. I've been waiting years for a couple of emails he promised me.
As a consitutency MP he has been very poor indeed.
NO Minerva it should be the "Lows of Oldham to have Woolas as an MP" What an embarrassment he is to our people
Have Your Say
So if you knew Godon Brown was so bad, why did you keep speaking up for him. If you want to be honest speak up. rather than publish a dairy which know doubt Phil got paid for.
By Chron13 @ 12/07/2010 12:44:01