Goldsmith’s declaration of independence

Make what you will of his political agenda, but I think this is quite a refreshing admission from Zac Goldsmith today:

“There are various things I have said in this campaign with absolute certainty. I said there will be no Heathrow expansion under our Government, there will be no charges for parking in Richmond Park and Kingston Hospital will be safe. If any of those promises are broken I will trigger a by-election and allow people to penalise my party.”

It’s bound to rile some of his Tory colleagues, of course – particularly this close to the election.  But one of the upshots of Parliament’s recent spate of scandals is that they – and we – will have to come to accept more independent, and independent-minded, MPs.

Hat-tip: Paul Waugh.