Paying Respect to Big Brother
Well it’s very good to be out of the Big Brother House and back in the constituency. It was three long, very boring weeks. I was staggered when I came out that there had been so much fuss and so many bad headlines. I went into the house to raise money for charity, to be able to employ additional staff in my constituency office and to try to reach a much larger audience than I have been able to in the past. In the case of the first two, I have achieved my aim.
On the third, I believe the jury is still out.When I came to the constituency surgery on Friday to see an enormous press pack, I was very pleased to be met by a representative of the charity Interpal, which I had designated my charity of choice. Interpal supports children in need in the Gaza strip in Palestine. Many children there live in dire poverty.
Because George Bush does not like the outcome of the democratic elections in Palestine these children are now threatened with the withdrawal of Western aid making their plight even more serious and whatever assistance we can give even more pressing. I am not worried about the odd indignity I was subject to on the show.
MPs and other public figures often do this sort of thing for charity, and there is no reason why there has been such silly criticism over it except to try to damage me and my party. MPs, again like everyone, should have the capacity to laugh at themselves, particularly in the name of a good cause. What does make me angry is the censorship of almost all of the political discussions we had in the house.
I met the managing director and producers of Celebrity Big Brother to discuss going on the show and I was promised I could talk about politics. I was told I would be given the opportunity to put across my views on the war and other issues. If I had known they were going to bleep out all of these discussions with bird noises I would not have gone on.
I’m glad I’m now back to continue campaigning against council house privatisation, to ensure we get the new Royal London hospital we need in Tower Hamlets at a price that can be afforded and to stop the Crossrail hole which threatens to destroy Bangla Town and Brick Lane (to mention just three issues).
Promoting the interests and needs of my constituents here requires I attempt to build broader support because one MP on their own can make little fundamental difference to the government policies from which people in Tower Hamlets suffer. My time in the Big Brother House was intended to try and ensure the ideas and policies on which I was elected MP for Bethnal Green and Bow would attract wider support across the country.
Initial responses to the experiment have been much better than the newspaper headlines suggest. As I was away from the Commons for the three weeks I was in the BB House, I will be returning my MP’s salary for that period (unlike most of my colleagues who are always going off on junkets to farflung places).
2nd Feb 2006