MP ranks highest (From Stroud News and Journal)

MP ranks highest

STROUD MP David Drew is at the top of the class when it comes asking questions for his constituents in the corridors of power at Westminster.

Mr Drew and fellow MPs are now being treated in the same way as schools and hospitals and being ranked in league tables and given scores.

The table for the 2001-02 parliamentary session is split into three sections: the number of votes, the number of oral and written questions asked and the number of speeches made.

Mr Drew emerged as the busiest MP in Gloucestershire after asking 671 questions, voting in 70 per cent of divisions and speaking in 76 debates.

This compares to 46 questions asked by Forest of Dean MP Diana Organ and 240 questions from Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton Brown.

"I don't mind the tables," Mr Drew told the SNJ on Monday. "I work hard and enjoy the job.

There are a lot of other ways in which we work other than questions and speeches and you also need to take account of constituency work." Mr Drew regularly works a 90-hour week.