November 1, 2010

By QUENTIN LETTS, Daily Mail Parliamentary sketch writer

1. OLIVER CROMWELL 1599-1658 -Oliver Cromwell is an example to all backbenchers. He sat, listened, learned, biding his time.

2. WILLIAM COBBETT 1763-1835 – William Cobbett so loathed the Establishment that he called it ‘The Thing’.

2024 International Churchill Conference

Join us for the 41st International Churchill Conference. London | October 2024

More

3. TAM DALYELL b 1932 – Ministers lived in dread of Tam Dalyell standing at the end of their long-winded spiels and asking: ‘Why?’

4. GWYNETH DUNWOODY 1930-2008 – Although she died in 2008, Gwyneth Dunwoody had by then put the whips in their place.

5. LEO ABSE 1917-2008 – Welsh lawyer Leo Abse used the security of a safe Labour seat to push the state towards loosening laws on divorce and gay rights.
6. SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL 1874-1965 – It was from the Commons backbenches that Winston Churchill spoke up about the German threat in the Thirties. He warned the country that Hitler was not a man to be bought off by the policies of appeasement.

7. NANCY ASTOR 1879-1964 – Nancy Astor, the first woman to take her seat in the Commons, had a genuine connection with her constituents, once giving the diamond ring from her finger to a Plymouth woman after a German bombing raid.

8.  DOUGLAS CARSWELL b 1971 – Douglas Carswell has made enough of a nuisance of himself to ensure he will never become a Tory frontbencher.

9. STEPHEN POUND b 1971 – Stephen Pound is mischief on two legs, offering a ceaseless commentary on the antics of ministers.

10. DAVID DAVIS b 1948 – David Davis has matured into a strong voice for individual freedoms.

Read the entire article here at the Mail Online

©Daily Mail

Comment by The Churchill Centre and Museum: The author admits that including Churchill among his list of great back bench MPs is a stretch, and we agree. Churchill usually occupied a front bench (below the gangway when not part of the Government or Opposition). Having held every major office except Foreign Secretary over 60 years in public life, he can scarcely be regarded as a back-bencher, even in the brief period in the 1930’s after he parted with Baldwin over India and defense issues.