On Monday, we wrote on the importance of independent select committee chairs. Two of our four endorsements have been elected to chair their respective committees.
On Monday, Left Foot Forward and Conservative Home jointly published a post on the importance of independent select committee chairs. Two of our four endorsements – Keith Vaz and Margaret Hodge – have been elected to chair their respective committees.
Our selections caused some debate in the blogosphere with Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale questioning our decision to endorse Keith Vaz and Margaret Hodge. On the left, Frank Owen was also critical. We chose to endorse candidates on the big important committees which meant making some tricky decisions. We knew that our choice of Keith Vaz might stick in many throats while concerns about Carswell’s views on the EU might cause concern on the left. But we made our choice for the simple reason that these four individuals stood the best chance of holding the executive to account in their areas.
Douglas Carswell would have been excellent chair of the defence committee for his independence of mind and ability to challenge defence procurement contracts. It’s a great pity that he went out in the first round of voting with just 72 out of 573 votes. The re-election of Conservative incumbent, James Arbuthnot, is a disappointing step back. We’re also sad that Andrew Tyrie has beaten Michael Fallon, who had wide cross-party support including from all the members of the Treasury committee who are still in Parliament but not standing themselves.
With Labour out of power and the Coalition Government putting in place a busy Home Affairs agenda, the continuity provided by Keith Vaz will be important. Meanwhile, Margaret Hodge fought off a strong challenge from Hugh Bayley to win by six votes on the fifth round.
An honourable mentions goes to Graham Allen, a seasoned constitutional reform campaigner, who will make an excellent chair of the political and constitutional reform committee. We’re also pleased to see Anne Begg take up the Work and Pensions select committee job. In total five of the 24 committees will be chaired by women. In addition to Hodge and Begg, Louise Ellman will chair transport, Anne McIntosh takes environment, food and rural affairs, and Joan Walley will run the environmental audit committee.
A full list of results is available here.
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Michael Grieve
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LockPickerNet
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Marcus A. Roberts
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Marcus A. Roberts
RT @leftfootfwd: Vaz and Hodge victorious in select committee elections http://bit.ly/ceJOrb