11:43am Friday 12th June 2009
THE first time I met Paul Goodman, he insisted on following me and my wife through the dark back streets of High Wycombe where we stopped to try to grab a takeaway curry.
Mr Goodman, who had informed us he read this column and already knew of the legend of Mrs Editor’s Chair, waited patiently for us outside before we continued on with him for a drink at the RAF club.
I still fondly recall this odd image of a future shadow Government minister waiting on the pavement for me to order a dhansak after I’d had a few bevvies.
That was more than eight years ago and I wondered at the time if this reserved-looking, posh former novice monk would be able to cope with the demands of being a constituency MP in a place such as Wycombe.
Would the man who admitted to resembling Mr Bean be able to empathise with the populace of an area such as ours?
I need not have worried. Mr Goodman, first elected in 2001, has turned out to be a fantastic constituency MP in my view.
It is an opinion shared by political opponents as well as many constituents.
He is conscientious, diligent, courteous and passionate about causes he believes in.
So that is why I tried to convince him to change his mind when he came to see me to personally warn me he was stepping aside at the next General Election because of his disillusionment with Parliament.
I pride myself on my political impartiality, but I immediately told the Tory MP he should reconsider. If he believes Parliament is that bad, he should work from the inside to change it.
And he should leave it up to the voters of the Wycombe constituency to decide whether or not he remains in the post at the next election.
His mind was not for changing, however, and he pressed on with his dramatic statement – published exclusively in last week’s Bucks Free Press – telling readers he would be standing down at the next election.
People who don’t know Paul Goodman won’t understand or won’t care, and some will say it will be good to have a change, especially in this political climate.
But the letters I have received this week from the people who do know him – including Labour Party agent John Barlow – bear out my belief about the job he has done.
Maybe I am biased in this respect because, several years ago, Mr Goodman helped me start a committee opposing proposals to move vital services from Wycombe Hospital to Stoke Mandeville.
When he first approached me and suggested I form the committee, I cynically wondered if this was a good political cause celebre which would help him win future elections.
However, as time wore on, I realised he felt as deeply as I did about the terrible injustice being done to Wycombe and its population by the hospital transfer plans.
Before these plans were ratified, they had to go before a council scrutiny committee which had the power to send them up to the Secretary of State for Health.
It was our last chance to stop the moves, and Mr Goodman and I were allowed to give a presentation to the scrutiny committee on why the proposals had to be halted.
We did this, but it was in vain. Councillors narrowly voted against us and there was now nothing to stop the transfers.
We left the meeting and walked outside into a private area after the vote and, as we did so, I looked around and saw Mr Goodman’s face contorted in anguish.
To my amazement, the ex-monk screeched a single four-lettered expletive, the nature of which is unsuitable to print in a family newspaper.
This was not the action of an uncaring Conservative MP going through the motions; this was someone who really cared and wanted to make a difference. Poetically, I now felt I could swear by our MP – now that he’d sworn beside me.
I don’t believe I am compromising my impartiality by saying Wycombe and Parliament need people such as Paul Goodman, and that he would do well to change his mind and stand again.
Sadly he won’t, and he will be a hard act to follow.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk