Photograph: Olivia Harris/Reuters via The Guardian
Oh noes!
MP Louise Mensch resigns to move family to New York
Louise Mensch, possibly the most well-known Conservative backbencher, has resigned as MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire, citing the difficulties of trying to balance her family life with political commitments.
Mensch and her three children will move to New York to live with her husband, Peter Mensch, who is based in the city where he works as manager of Metallica, Jimmy Page and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. She married him last year after her first marriage broke down.
Mensch said every effort had been made to ensure she could stay in her role, but she had ultimately made the decision to ensure the welfare of her family.
“I am completely devastated. It’s been unbelievably difficult to manage family life,” she said. “We have been trying to find a way forward with the prime minister’s office but I just can’t spend as much time with my children as I want to.”
Quite a good follow up piece here from Gabby Hinsliff: The lessons of Louise Mensch’s departure? There are none.
Well, maybe. Too bad. Good on her for being clear about her priorities.
I respected MPs as diverse as Pam Corkery, Katherine Rich and Simon Power for getting the hell out of politics when they saw how it worked from the inside. As Bismarck said:
“Es gibt zwei Sachen da sollte man besser nicht wissen wie es gemacht wird – Wurst und Politik”.
“There are two things you don’t want to see being made: sausages and legislation”.
It crosses my mind to wonder what NZ’s own good-looking former right wing vixen (now ‘apolitical‘ ahem) Cactus Kate will have to say about this for-the-sake-of-my-children decision, if anything.
At least Louise Mensch didn’t torch her Party’s caravan on the way out and abuse her former team mates as ‘giant titheads’, as Cathy did. Nor did she, as far as we know, back-stab, undercut and sabotage the political careers of other female Party candidates who didn’t meet her required level of idealogical purity. Then leave.
Lessons in class.
– P
No she just forced a by election in a very close race as a final fuck you after finding the job wasn’t to her liking.
Weak.
Even weak for you PP.
Weak what? Comparison?
Comparing me to her is like me comparing you to ergh….well I don’t know as I do not know anything about you. I admit to visiting the hairdresser and picking the blonde hair dye, that’s about where the similarities with this lady end.
She’s left the Tories in the lurch (they will now lose the seat) to run off to NYC with her billionaire husband whereby she will not retire gracefully and spend time with her kids chances are she will have a cushy media gig and leave her kids with a nanny while attending social functions.
And Ivan – I guess you are one of those tragic anonymous keyboard warriors who abuses someone and when they ignore you claims every piece of crap you say is true and when they respond you squeal “ooo there is a reaction”.
wasnt referring to you at all in the comments. Sorry … i really wasnt. I really dont have much of a clue who or what you are and can only apologise for any offence caused …
Interesting comment from UK MP Jamie Reed discussing the by-election contest for Louise Mensch’s Corby seat …
“What does he make of the vote’s background, and the resignation of Louise Mensch? “I think what she did was very brave. It was clearly the right thing to do for her family, and I applaud that.” A few seconds go by. “Maybe you have to be a parent to understand why she did it.”
see: “Westminster is not a real place”: In conversation with Jamie Reed MP by Callum Jones in The Independent.
I don’t presume what your response to that might be, Cathy, but Louise Mensch called Reed ‘very kind’.
– P
Got a reaction there obviously …
Surprised you didnt say “made lampshades out of her victims” or somesuch … shades of Ilse Koch – another goodlooking blonde valkyrie…
[…] Thatcher. They’ve also both, supposedly, retired from politics now — Louise to spend more time with family and Cathy in broken exasperation about the failure of the less-than-one-percent in NZ: […]