Odd election starts a month of polls

Elections are on MPs’ minds at the moment.

But before the Euros, local elections or the Newark by-election there is a curious vote in the Commons on Wednesday. The job of chair of the Defence Select Committee becomes vacant this summer.

On the face of it, it’s not really a big deal, nobody outwith the Palace of Westminster could name the current committee chair James Arbuthnot. But it’s thrown up some titbits indicative of what’s wrong with parliament.

First of all comes the reason for the vacancy.

Arbuthnot is stepping down a year early. He’s leaving parliament next year and said he’s going to look for a new job. He doesn’t want to be hawking his services to the private sector whilst chairing the defence committee.

By resigning early, Arbuthnot can walk out of Westminster and straight into a lucrative consultancy job with an arms firm next summer with a clean conscience.

Previously the post would’ve been filled via “the usual channels” the whips that oversee Government business would’ve tapped some upstanding chap on the shoulder and he’d quietly have taken over.

After recent reforms committee chairs are elected. But it makes for an odd vote because although all the candidates will be Tory, the winner will be the one who commands most support among other parties.

The runners and riders to replace Arbuthnot are a rum lot.

They are all men.

Penny Mordaunt, who does an excellent job as a member of the defence committee, represents the naval city of Portsmouth, is a reservist and once appeared on Tom Daley’s telly programme in her swimsuit would be an ideal candidate but presumably doesn’t fancy it in the hope of bagging a ministerial job after the next election.

Leading the field is Dr Julian Lewis. He was shadow Armed Forces minister for the Tories until the 2010 election, but after the formation of the Coalition that brief was handed to a Lib Dem and Lewis banished to the backbenches from where he has spoken up in favour of defence spending and maintaining the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Just as he did at Prime Minister’s Questions last week when Speaker John Bercow called him to speak despite not being on the order paper.

Lewis helped his chum Bercow get elected to the Speaker’s chair back in 2009.

At a lunch the next day, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond explained he is “scrupulously neutral” in the committee chair vote before adding acidly: “I’m not sure the Speaker was.”

The other serious candidates are a couple of Stewarts ironic given they want to replace Arbuthnot who claims to be directly descended from King James V of Scotland.

Colonel Bob Stewart has the best military pedigree, he was in charge of UN troops in Bosnia 20 years ago. In a debate on Scottish independence last year he gave a stirring speech in praise of bagpipes. He seemed to be under the impression the pipes would be impounded in England in the event of a Yes vote.

Rory Stewart is much younger but has been similarly swashbuckling in his time having been a governor in post-war Iraq, set up a charity in Afghanistan and walked across Asia with just a dog for company. He’s also made some excellent documentaries about the disparate topics of Lawrence of Arabia and Northumberland. The latter of which featured the story of a medieval monk who licked an otter back to life. He’d bring colour to the committee.

But not as much as outsider James Gray. Like Bob and Rory Stewart he’s a Scot.

He lasted a week as Shadow Scottish Secretary in 2005 after he advocated abolishing the Scottish Parliament. And he attracted particular opprobrium when it was discovered he’d tried to claim for Armistice Day wreaths on his expenses.

Even the expenses office baulked at reimbursing that one.

Whoever wins has an important job to do, holding the Ministry of Defence to account and ensuring troops are properly looked after.

Our soldiers are brave enough, they need better than a buffoon batting for them in parliament.