A week is a long time in politics...

Not all of us were sitting beside our telephones when Gordon Brown assumed the role of Leader of his Party and then went to call on The Queen.  It is a measure of how Tony Blair changed the face of British politics in just ten years that our new Prime Minster has slipped into No.I0 unchallenged and unelected.

The man who convinced me the time had come to invade Iraq had done his final deals with the EU and signed up to British opt-outs with invisible ink. So much for red lines. 

The new boy says he will take Parliament more seriously – but don’t hold your breath. There is no sign that Parliament’s role (in both Houses) of scrutinising Government-proposed legislation and holding Ministers to account is about to change. Still most business is guillotined – sorry, timetabled – thus denying proper scrutiny.

This government has brought about huge constitutional changes with little or no discussion, let alone Parliamentary approval. For example, the splitting up of the Home Office to establish the UK’s first ever Ministry of Justice was announced by press release!

Flaming June 
It wasn’t just the English talking about the foul weather last month. Overseas visitors were sorry to have their prejudices confirmed. Some came prepared – like the man outside the Cathedral wearing shorts and a duffle coat!

It wasn’t all bad. At the end of another spectacular Salisbury International Festival came the fireworks. This year was, in my opinion, the best ever. Except for the noise. In Parliament I have argued (and voted) for years against the noisiest ‘mortar bombs’, often imported illegally and distributed disreputably in white vans, very difficult for either HM Customs and Revenue (what’s left of them – they are due to lose another 14,000 jobs) or the police to intercept.

I love firework displays for the bursts of light and colour, the clever design and sequencing. You can keep the explosions – that frighten many people and terrify not just pets but farm animals for miles around. Noisy firework displays are unnecessary, selfish and antisocial. Next year, why doesn’t Salisbury set a trend? Do something really innovative and crowd-pulling and advertise England’s biggest and best quiet firework display?

Whatever next?
When I was a child, the fields in Wiltshire at this time of year rippled with golden wheat and barley – with lots of rogue scarlet poppies and some swathes of bright blue cornflowers. Intensive farming put an end to all that was not gold. Then we got used to ugly fields of yellow rape, triffid-like sweetcorn and even a few hectares of sunflowers. Later came those glorious slopes of hazy blue linseed.

This year I have noticed fields of large, unfamiliar white flowers. These are opium poppies, licensed by the government (I hope!) for production of this medicinal crop. I know – why don’t we just buy the product from Afghanistan? (Tricky argument, that, as I’ve found out on the Defence Select Committee.)

Commercial opium poppy growing fell out of favour a century ago – and is illegal today without a license. It was not always so. Recently opium seeds were excavated from a 2500 year old Scottish settlement! In the 1790s there were bumper crops in Somerset. In the 1830s, Mitcham, then a Surrey village, was the opium capital of Britain with hundreds of acres under cultivation by famous firms including Yardley (now cosmetics). No home was complete without a bottle of laudanum for sending the kids to sleep and relieving toothache (and the rest).

Electricity for life
Do you remember that slogan? As Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies, I am committed to promoting understanding of carbon-free, renewable and sustainable sources of energy. I recently visited a barn conversion near Whiteparish where the enlightened owners are installing a geothermal loop and heat pump.

I have also had an exchange in The House with the Secretary of State for Wales who is gung-ho for a tidal barrage across the Bristol Channel. He is in denial that there would be any serious impact on biodiversity and the environment. I suggested he visit St. Malo, where 41 years ago they built a barrage to take advantage of Europe’s greatest tidal range. It now produces just 3% of Brittany’s electricity and as I have observed many times, has ruined the estuary upstream. I don’t think that is a price worth paying.

Parts of England’s glorious countryside have, in my opinion, been ruined by hideous wind turbines that only work for one third of the time, because the wind is either too strong or too week. I will oppose wind farms in our constituency, should military low-flying areas prove an inadequate deterrent.

That said, watch out for a wind farm near you! Wiltshire County Council has identified a score of sites in the county where it would like to see the monstrosities.

Robert Key MP