He may be boring but he is truly effective

10:51am Wednesday 25th April 2007

Comments (4)   Have your say »

When the parliamentary sketch writer Matthew Parris first heard Norman Baker speak in the House of Commons, he memorably exclaimed: "He bores for Britain."

His point was proved on Friday in a House of Commons debate, when the Lewes Liberal Democrat MP bored away for more than two hours in a successful bid to prevent a Private Member's Bill becoming law.

Unfortunately, the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill later managed to resurrect itself through arcane parliamentary procedures.

Mr Baker was active yesterday and will be needed again on Friday to make sure it dies properly this time.

But other watchers at Westminster now believe Norman Baker is not really a bore but an unlikely political champion. On this, as with many other issues, he has a habit of being right.

The Freedom of Information Act has been one of this Government's most successful measures. It has allowed newspapers such as The Argus to discover and highlight abuses in public spending.

Mr Baker has been particularly assiduous in revealing details of MPs' spending habits, which is why the Private Member's Bill was proposed. If passed, it would have exempted MPs and peers from the Act.

Completely spurious claims about breaching confidentiality were put forward by David Maclean, the muchfeared former Tory Chief Whip, as the main reason for his Bill.

The real reason many other MPs dislike and even fear Mr Baker is some of them spend far too much on travel expenses they would rather keep secret.

Last week, at Prime Minister's Question Time, Mr Baker was shouted down so loudly he could hardly be heard.

But he persisted and the virulence of his opposition probably convinced most neutral observers he was correct.

Mr Baker celebrates ten years in the House next month, along with scores of others, mainly Labour members, who were swept in during Tony Blair's first landslide general election victory in 1997.

It's worth recalling what a remarkable win this was for Mr Baker. Usually, when a major party wins by a landslide, the third party does not do well.

But the Liberal Democrats picked up a number of seats all over the country, including the most unlikely of all, Lewes, which had been a safe Tory constituency for decades.

It had been occupied since the Second World War by the well-mannered and quaintly named Sir Tufton Beamish, followed by the reformist and equally posh Tim Rathbone.

What made Lewes different from other super-safe Tory seats such as Chichester, Horsham and Wealden? The answer is mainly Norman Baker.

With colleagues such as David Rogers, the artful group leader in East Sussex, Lib Dems picked up enough seats on the county council to run it in collaboration with Labour.

Gradually, they gained seats on Lewes District Council, while some Tories were supine and many socialists were looking the other way until they took complete control.

Those of us covering councils at the time knew Mr Baker as a busy, beavering councillor, always working hard, moving fast and able to deliver good quotes in shorthand-defying speeches.

But when he stood for Parliament, it was hard to imagine he would do any better than scores of other thirdparty candidates in Sussex who had beaten Labour in country seats but still been far away from the winning Tories.

Norman Baker was different. The sheer cussed determination that has since served him so well at Westminster was evident even then. He seemed to be everywhere.

From his cottage near the Beddingham level crossing, he seemed to pop up everywhere, whether in some tiny village or in the trendy heart of Lewes itself. The county town was broadly sympathetic but it was when he gained support in places such as Tory Seaford that I began to take notice.

After standing for Lewes in 1992 and losing, Mr Baker immediately decided to try again. But the Lib Dems had lost their one Sussex seat at Eastbourne and victory did not look likely.

Norman Baker was not deterred. The 1997 Lewes result, as ever in Sussex, was the last to be declared. It was a narrow win but it was enough.

Since then, Mr Baker has twice won handsomely, almost to the point that Lewes can be considered a safe seat so long as he remains there.

He might have been content merely to be a good constituency MP, ferreting on behalf of Lewes people.

But it quickly became clear he was raising his sights far higher than that.

As the Millennium dawned, he started to ask a series of detailed but highly uncomfortable questions of the Government about the soaring cost of the Dome at Greenwich.

Even today, eight years after it was built, the Dome is leaking money and stands as a huge example of public spending on a project where practical considerations came second to prestige.

Mr Baker's most important scalp was that of Peter Mandelson. The Labour minister was forced to resign a second time from office after the Lewes MP revealed awkward facts about his dealings with the secretive and wealthy Hinduja brothers.

He started to win awards, including one for the best new MP, another as inquisitor of the year and a third as the best opposition MP.

But even his fellow Lib Dem MPs tended to regard him with suspicion and the best position he achieved during his first term was to be the party spokesman on animal welfare.

Although he has always been outspoken about the environment, it was not until 2002 that he was promoted to be the Lib Dem environment spokesman.

It was typical of Mr Baker that he resigned a year ago to concentrate on asking questions about the death of Dr David Kelly, the scientist found dead in 2003 after being named as the possible source of a BBC story on the Government's dossier justifying the invasion of Iraq.

Some of the things he has been saying about Dr Kelly's death strain credulity. They would be out of place in a science fiction novel.

He says he is satisfied Dr Kelly did not kill himself and has come to the conclusion his life was "deliberately taken by others".

The Government is sticking hard to the official line that Dr Kelly, who had been in an anxious state over the Iraq war, did commit suicide.

Mr Baker is also questioning the death of former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and, while I would dismiss his theories out of hand if they came from anyone else, I am listening to what he has to say.

The Lewes MP is an unlikely hero. He does not look like one and he can be extremely irritating.

He has incurred the wrath of Albion fans over the Falmer stadium and has been criticised for wasting huge sums of public money through the number of questions he asks in the Commons.

I would not care to be there on Friday if he should launch into another marathon speech to talk out the noxious Bill. But I have more than a sneaking admiration for the man who has shown backbench MPs can be truly effective nuisances.

Is Norman Baker a bore or a force to be reckoned with? Leave your comments below.