Peter, you talk about Keith 'playing' at junior minister. It seems pretty clear to me that you can't make the distinction between local and national government and the duties of an MP/ cllr. Leech is fundamentally a councillor and he was probably very good at that but as an MP you should be in Westminster for most of the week because the aim is to represent your constituency at parliament. Keith did this exceptionally well adn worked extremely hard. What does Leech do... he still goes to all your precious planning meetings etc and national duties suffer as a result.... I mean what has he really done, on a national level, for Manchester Withington... where are the headlines and the stories... where are the debates?? Or do you feel that signing an extra ordinary amount of EDM's makes him an exceptional MP.
As for Keith becoming a peer... he deserves it. He dedicated 18 years of his life to act as MP for the constituency, he worked extremely hard and thank god he represents the constituency in the Lords because it would seem that the person doing it in the Commons is pants!!
