There are few quicker ways to annoy an MP than to suggest that they are on holiday when the House of Commons isn’t sitting. Such a suggestion will be met with a tetchy and immediate list of the constituency work they are doing in recess. This week, however, marks the start of the first summer break since the election, so the honourable members should perhaps feel entitled to a rest. Indeed, most MPs who aren’t engaged in a leadership contest will be taking one.
As they sink into their deckchairs, they will have plenty to think about. The election might only have been two and a half months ago, but the dynamics of this parliament have changed, utterly.
Elections will return soon enough. There will be a Scottish Parliament vote and a London mayoral contest next spring. The whole country will vote on Britain’s membership of the EU before the end of 2017. The Tories have already started planning for the next general election — MPs in marginal seats have been organised into an incumbency group and are being advised by deputy chairman, Stephen Gilbert, on how to protect their majorities.
The MPs most in need of a holiday are the Scottish Nationalists. Last summer, they were campaigning for independence and so have not taken a breath for two years. The new contingent of SNP MPs should be pleased with their work in the Commons. Sitting together in tightly packed rows, they support each other with something close to military discipline and stand out in a chamber often deserted by the other parties. They claim to take parliament more seriously than anyone else; on the last day of the Commons’ term, they moved to the near-empty Labour benches in a stunt designed to show that they are the real parliamentary opposition to David Cameron.
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