UK MPs - 2015 Parliament

[Blair]

Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)

Served as a minister during the last parliament. Really doesn't like John Bercow, having once called him a "stupid sanctimonious dwarf" and refused to shake his hand after taking the oath. Is a 'passionate supporter' of the U.S. Democratic Party, which probably says more about the Democratic Party than it does Burns.

Funnily enough according to the Total Politics article he has 2,000 books on the Kennedy's, and named his son Bobby. That's extreme even for me

[Phony Moderate]

Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill)

Narrowly elected in a by-election in 2004, he served in a number of front bench positions, most notably Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the last year of the Brown government. When he departed from that role he left a now-infamous note that stated "I'm afraid there is no money" and you can guess what happened next.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Probably one of the biggest idiots to serve in the Shadow Cabinet.

Burrowes is an odd guy.

[Phony Moderate]

Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Long Brentford councillor who was elected to Parliament in May in one of the few Labour gains from the Tories. Also a Quaker.

And the answer to the obvious question (regarding her surname) is yes.

[Phony Moderate]

Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)

Minister for Wales. Former member of the Welsh Assembly. Once referred to Italians as 'greasy wops'.

[Phony Moderate]

Pre-warning: Tomorrow's post may contain some porkies. And bad puns.

[Phony Moderate]

David Cameron (Conservative - Witney)

Prior to entering Parliament he made a pig's ear out of a brief acting career as his acting was considered too hammy.

[Phony Moderate]

Lisa Cameron (SNP - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Probably who Nicola Sturgeon meant when she supposedly said "Cameron would make a better PM than Ed Miliband".

[Phony Moderate]

Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Former teacher; prior to his election in 1997 Labour had only won the seat once before (1945).

[kcguy]

By the way, I'm really enjoying this thread.  Keep it up.

[Phony Moderate]

Gregory Campbell (DUP - East Londonderry)

Also a member of the NI Assembly for the constituency of the same name. Ugh.

[ObserverIE]

Gregory Campbell (DUP - East Londonderry)

Also a member of the NI Assembly for the constituency of the same name. Ugh.

Transplant to Coleraine from his original stomping ground of Derry city. Probably the most personally obnoxious of the remaining DUP MPs now that Boxcar Willie McCrea has been dispatched back to Magherafelt.

[DavidB.]

David Cameron (Conservative - Witney)

Prior to entering Parliament he made a pig's ear out of a brief acting career as his acting was considered too hammy.

How the Prime Minister empowers people. From Tumblr.

[Phony Moderate]

Ronnie Campbell (Labour - Blyth Valley)

A member of the Hard Left, he can often be seen sitting next to Dennis Skinner in the House of Commons. Somewhat surprisingly, he voted against same-sex marriage - though he is a Catholic. Former NUM lay official.

[Phony Moderate]

Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)

Former Scottish Secretary. Currently under investigation following a leaked memo about Nicola Sturgeon.

[Hifly]

Ronnie Campbell (Labour - Blyth Valley)

A member of the Hard Left, he can often be seen sitting next to Dennis Skinner in the House of Commons. Somewhat surprisingly, he voted against same-sex marriage - though he is a Catholic. Former NUM lay official.

Not surprising for a member of Hard Left. Also anti-abortion.

[Phony Moderate]

Neil Carmichael (Conservative - Stroud)

Chariman of the Education Select Committee. Contested Leeds East in 1992 and won Stroud on his third attempt in 2010. The last four elections in the constituency have been hard-fought battles between the same Tory and Labour candidates - Carmichael and David Drew.

[Phony Moderate]

Douglas Carswell (UKIP - Clacton)

UKIP's first and now (following the defeat of Mark Reckless in May) only MP. Played a crucial role in the removal of Michael Martin as Speaker. During his time as a Tory MP he was perhaps the Commons' equivalent to the European Parliamentarian Daniel Hannan, having held (and still holding) 'libertarian' and strongly Eurosceptic views. Overall, he probably represents a somewhat more moderate and reasonable side of UKIP.

[Bacon King]

As the sole UKIP MP he was entitled to a £3.3 million office budget at taxpayers' expense, because that sort of thing is for some reason allocated based on the popular vote (he refused most of it)

"There are one or two rather excitable staffers in Ukip who came up with a proposal that involved hiring 15 extra people. I would point out that I'm not an American senator"

[DavidB.]

Overall, he probably represents a somewhat more moderate and reasonable side of UKIP.

Does this have to do with the fact that he is part of the middle-class/(South) East of England UKIP "faction" rather than the working-class/Northern English UKIP "faction"?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

UKIP doesn't do factions in the usual sense because it is a personality cult. Most of its members (wherever you go) are cut from the same cloth though: middle aged to elderly, white, and while not rich not badly off either (which, come to think of it, isn't a million miles away from their voter profile even if - like all parties - the average member is better off than the average voter). A high proportion of rejects from other parties as well, of course. Carswell is an exception to this pattern. I suspect that he's technically part of their youth wing.

[DavidB.]

Fair enough. But there's no "divide" in the party between people "representing" the Northern, more working-class electorate (often former Labour voters who don't like immigration/the EU) and people "representing" the generally more middle-class (South) Eastern electorate (often former Conservative voters)? Of course, I don't mean "representing" in any official sense (since they obviously have only one MP), but you probably get what I'm saying.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Carswell is more of an academic-minded almost nebbish Eurosceptic than the sort of boorish type the party likes to present itself as.

 I suppose the divide in UKIP is those who consider the EU their primary issue and those who consider immigration to be the biggest issue (the latter being the key part of the party's growth, and yet, perhaps also its millstone).

[DavidB.]

I suppose the divide in UKIP is those who consider the EU their primary issue and those who consider immigration to be the biggest issue (the latter being the key part of the party's growth, and yet, perhaps also its millstone).

And does this divide (somewhat) correspond with different electorates, Northern/working-class members focusing on immigration and Eastern/middle-class members focusing on the EU?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Well, I can't say I'm too involved in the internal machinations of the party so I can't be sure, but I think it's fair to say that the anti-immigration base dwarfs the anti-European elderly rural colonel section across the country.

Also I would be wary of using the North/south barrier too much. I think a lot of UKiP's supposed northern strength was a bit of a dud - they have no strength in the powerhouses of Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and only a little in the outskirts of Sheffield. I think a lot of UKIP gains didn't really materialise even in relatively white working class areas like Hull.

They have success in locales around the country where the economy is depressed, mostly white with some "problematic" migrants like travellers and East European workers that don't vote - depressed seaside towns and old industrial towns being the most important examples. These include Thurrock, Clacton, Thanet, areas of Plymouth etc. there really are no natural constituencies where "genteel" elderly colonel Eurosceptics dominate. Maybe they have some rural strength in the sprawling shire constituencies, but support is too thin and Tories too entrenched.