It’s rare that OnTheWight publishes editorial opinion pieces, but we feel this needs to be brought to public attention.
It was with great interest that I read the piece in the County Press of two weeks ago (p43, 24th July 2015) by its editor Alan Marriott, then Charlotte Hofton’s piece in last week’s CP (Weekender p3, 31st July 2015).
Both focused, with some apparent frustration, about being blocked in trying to get answers from Andrew Turner’s office – the example Alan gave, when seeking to find out the current employment status of Carole Dennett, Andrew’s previously public partner.
I’m sorry to report that the problem goes far wider than just questions about Carole Dennett and her current employment status.
Despite personal assurances from Andrew Turner that OnTheWight’s questions would be answered, his office is all but shut to media inquiries.
Problems during election campaign
How, you might ask, did it get to the point that Andrew would even need to be asked to provide these assurances – something that most people would assume would be naturally provided in an open democracy?
In the run-up to the election, OnTheWight was effectively cut-off from having our legitimate questions answered. We’d ask questions and get nothing in return – not even an acknowledgement of receipt.
In utter frustration we took the opportunity of asking him in person about it, after having been invited by BBC Radio Solent, to attend their pre-election hustings held outside at The Lifeboat pub, East Cowes.
Extraordinary reaction
Once the radio recording had finished, we approached Andrew Turner specifically to seek answers to the silence and to ask for his assurances.
His reaction was extraordinary, and frankly, in our view, unbecoming of an MP.
Not only did he refuse to shake my hand – twice – concocting weak excuses such as having to put his jumper on, but when I approached him with an audio recorder, as is normal in an interview, he attempted to grab it out of my hands.
The assembled election candidates and media people were stunned.
Bizarre, childish behaviour
We made the decision, until now, to tell very few people of this. Those we have mentioned it to have had the same reaction – utter shock that someone who is supposed to be in an honourable role would behave in such a bizarre and childish manner.
We’ll leave it to you to make up your own minds and reflect them in the comments below.
Personal assurances
Putting this aside, I told Andrew of the shocking state of affairs of utter silence from his office – he was, after all, supposed to be accountable to his constituents.
I sought, and received, Andrew’s personal assurance that our questions would be answered in the future.
Silence has returned
Since Andrew was successful in holding onto his seat, sadly he, his office, or whoever is in control of it, has decided to break Andrew’s promise.
All our questions (but one, last week) haven’t received acknowledgements, never mind answers.
MPs: Elected to represent the people
“The UK public elects Members of Parliament (MPs) to represent their interests and concerns in the House of Commons”, so says the Houses of Parliament’s own Website.
The fact of the matter is that Andrew Turner is a public servant, paid from the public purse and – as he pledged during his acceptance speech – He pledged to represent all the people of the Isle of Wight, no matter if they voted for him or not.
Andrew, are you listening?
We’ve no idea if Andrew is making the decision of block answers to our questions or those of the County Press, or if another person within his team is doing this before they even get to him.
With this in mind, all we can do is write this piece and hope that Andrew gets to see it. It’s with more than a little sadness that we’ve had to resort to this.
Come on Andrew, be a man of your word and instruct your staff to answer all media inquiries.
