This is simply wrong and is the fundamental error that I suspected exists in some minds posting here, which is also held, in error, by many members of the Labour Party.

MPs are NOT delegates. They are representatives. They are therefore not in Parliament to "represent and voice the views and will of their constituents". They are there to use their time to fully study the issues and come to decisions on our behalf. They would be foolish to ignore the views of the electorate if they hope to be re-elected but they are not duty bound to always follow their will. Their duty is to do what THEY believe is in the best interests of their constituents.

MPs are not public servants in the way civil servants are. Don't believe me? Let me quote Charles Walker, a Conservative MP, in an interview in 2014 in the New Statesman:- “Your readers are going to hate this, but when I hear people say we’re public servants, well we’re not. We’re not there to serve the public. We’re representatives of our communities, who place their faith in us to go to Parliament and exercise our judgement on their behalf on the big issues of the day.”

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

I don't understand how you can state the former in bold and not conclude the latter.

You are completely wrong, and it concerns me deeply that you would take the conceited, self serving, inaccurate arrogance of a Tory MP as your benchmark of truth.

A member of parliament might be arrogant enough to think that it is their role to decide what's best for the rest of us, justifying themselves as bastions of the greater good to act undemocratically, but they are elected in the very first instance to represent the views of their members in parliament. Hence, member of parliament for [insert constituency].

Why do you think it's acceptable to ignore the will of their constituents? This is how dictatorship works in actual fact.

I regret that it is you who are completely wrong. Do you understand the difference between a delegate and a representative? MPs are representatives. They are NOT elected to "represent the views of their members in parliament". That would mean they are delegates. Many organisations work like that, but the British Parliament is not one of them.

The MP is not being arrogant at all. He is stating fact. MPs are put there by us to use their best endeavours to represent what they perceive to be our interests. We don't send mouthpieces to Parliament. We send representatives to use their brains. If we don't like what they do then we can choose someone else whenever there is a GE.

If it is any comfort to you ,you are far from alone in this misunderstanding. Many people think as you do, including some of our MPs, but they are constitutionally wrong.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Reference your definition, here's mine:

[Link]

I believe you said something about admitting when you're wrong just before you incorrectly challenged someone else's post....

Edited by ChrisGC (26 Jan 2019 4.50pm)

I have A and O levels in politics and a CSE grade 1 in Civics. That does not make me an expert but I think I am fairly well informed about the role of Parliament.

MPs are not delegates as you point at but they are representatives and that means they have to representative something broadly in line with what they told the voters when they campaigned.

At the last election most of our MPs stood on a pro Brexit platform if they now wish to change their mind
and Remain the honourable thing to do is to resign and argue their corner with the voters.

I would have thought that Remainers would agree that putting this to the public would be a good thing after all we are told that the mood has swung to Remain. It would also mean that those individual MPs especially Labour would not have to hope that Mrs May called a GE they could control the agenda. imagine 70 odd Tory and Labour MPs being re-elected on a pro Remain ticket.

By the way my original comments were a bit tongue in cheek as I was annoyed with the arrogant attitude of this MP. I thought I bet you wouldn't put your job on the line with the voters.

This logic also applies to MPs who switch parties or go independent. Unless they are prepared to submit to the rigours of an election they will not be respected by me.

I do not expect MPs to consult constituents on every minor decision but the 2017 election was mainly fought on Brexit and they should respect that.

One more point

Correct, do you want a medal for stating the obvious?

Bit of a dilemma for them: implement what they promised in their election manifesto, or upset the political elite.

Either way, their snouts are at risk of being taken out of the trough either short term by the electorate or long term by the establishment: and vice versa should they renegade.

Good. Do as you have been instructed to democratically and promised you'd fulfill, regardless of the fact that you can wriggle out of it on the grounds of "you can't make me act against my own selfish interests" because it's 'advisory'.

Charlatans.