Why now?
James Heappey, MP for Wells at least until June 8th has shown a monumental lack of judgement. In swearing at a schoolgirl who had made a perfectly reasonable remark to him in a debate at Millfield School, he has hardly set a shining example of the behaviour of the political class. The electors of Wells will no doubt pass their own judgement on whether this is something they consider forgivable in a public figure or not.
But while the media frenzy that erupted over the weekend goes on, we would like to ask a different question. Why now? Our understanding is that the debate took place at Millfield School on 16th March. That is 8 weeks ago. Anyone, the pupil, her family, the school or fellow pupils who witnessed the events could all have brought this unedifying spectacle into the media then.
But it seems that no-one did and the matter went unreported.
Of course now there is a General Election in full swing Mr Heappey’s embarrassment is being paraded for all to see. And he surely has every reason to be embarrassed.
But the timing with which this has been brought into the public domain asks a lot more questions and at present no-one seems interested in asking or answering them.