Shropshire MP Daniel Kawczynski had a beef with the Commons authorities because they have refused to let him take a cow into the parliamentary precincts.
The Shrewsbury & Atcham MP sought permission to take one of his constituent’s cattle to Westminster as part of a demonstration by farmers later this month.
The animal was to have been used to illustrate the threat from bovine tuberculosis to Britain’s dairy industry, but the Tory MP has been told cows are not among the few animals allowed on to the premises.
Mr Kawczynski’s request went right to the top - to Commons Speaker Michael Martin, who confirmed that the Palace of Westminster is a no-go area for cattle.
In a letter from director general of facilities John Borley, the MP was told: “I am sorry not to be able to meet your request to bring a cow into the palace precincts.
“I do appreciate the seriousness of the issue that you are dealing with, and would in any case wish to support any member of the House in any way that I could.
“But I have to tell you that animals are simply not allowed onto the grounds, with the sole exceptions of guide dogs, sniffer dogs and police horses. The House would not wish to establish a precedent for further exceptions, however important the cause concerned.”
Mr Kawczynski, chairman of the all-party group for dairy farmers, has also been refused permission to take the cow, belonging to farmer Andrew Bebb, onto the small green opposite the Houses of Parliament.
Mr Borley told him: “I am afraid there is a hard and fast rule that no props of any kind are permitted there. Again, there is a concern over establishing precedents.
“The Clerk of the House has spoken with Mr Speaker about your request, and I can confirm that this remains the position.”
Mr Kawczynski vowed not to let the matter rest. He said: “I am furious that they are preventing me from highlighting the appalling situation of bovine TB in this country.
“Thousands of dairy farmers around England are going bust as a result of this appalling disease and the Government is not lifting a finger.”
21 Comments
What a mooooooving story…..
I would have thought that a Shropshire MP of all people, would have understood that moving cattle around unnecessarily just increases the chance of spreading these horrible diseases. Not a good publicity stunt!
Anything for a bit of publicity!
How exactly would taking a cow to parliament highlight Mr Kawczynski’s concerns? Can he not use reasoned debate in parliament? Or is he just annoyed at losing the chance to get his face in the papers?
If he’s incapable of making his point without props then maybe he should brush up on his campaigning skills.
Actually, John, you are wrong. It is a perfect stunt. Daniel knew they’d say no, so was able to make a double protest. A classical piece of PR.
Its just another stunt.. He seems to have lots of these complaints and stunts, but what so far, has he actually achieved ?
Come on guys and girls, be reasonable. He has seen a cow, he knows what they look like, he only wants to show another 640 odd other MPs what they look like. As we all know, there are many farmers amongst our MPs and it’s only right that they should learn to know what a cow looks like.
On reglection, I think a bull would be more appropriate though because as far as I can see, a bulls bye-product is the only thing to come out of the house and they seem to be running low on that.
Did you heffer witness such an udderly ridiculous stunt. What a cow(boy).He does not deserve a pat on the back for milkin the situation.
Another self-serving publicity stunt from Daniel.
Shrewsbury and Atcham is the sort of place that’s nearly always going to elect a Tory, but couldn’t they have found a better candidate? Many people must be missing even the not very well thought of Derek Conway!
Why not just get engaged to the other Cheeky Girl and make a total shambles of politics for us locally?
who cares? as bart simpson would say - dont have a cow man
well done dan kawthingy but instead of a cow could i suggest a large barrel of gunpowder because everyones still talking about the fella who tried that stunt
Isn’t it time our MP started to represent his constituents rather than behaving as a little boy seeking attention. After his cow stunt we now see he is requesting a bank holiday for Britons to celebrate Poles. What planet is he on.
mr livelife has covered it all, well done. just to remind us isn’t a cow without horns called a poll or pole, so your mp was in good company!
Peter, for once I can agree with you. I had the misfortune to see this man “perform” on Newsnight yesterday.(a) He wants a public holiday declared for Poles who have made a contribution to this country. (b) He said that there were more Americans and French people in this country than Poles. Enough said on both I think.
The Tories would do well to have a rethink on this man.
the tories would do well to have a complete rethink. when they return to one nation politics of harold mavmillan they may deserve election, until that happens we are well off tacticaly voting lib dem to keep in power g brown and co. better the devil you know i say!
Oh, dear. The usual suspects out to attack Daniel!
Daniel has done more in the past year than Paul Marsden did in two terms.
Matt - just because you blindly support the self interested publicity addict. Random acts of publicity do not a good rural economy make.
Saying things like ‘usual suspects’ is really a weak effort - do better next time. Thats always used when people have nothing to say or no means to defend.
Matt, Marsden really was a joke, anyone who swops parties twice isn’t worth talking about. You say the present MP has done “more in the last year” please tell me what has he actually done ?
Matt,
With my record on these posts, there is no way that you can accuse me of being a “usual suspect”, Devon Salopian yes, he would attack anything other than his discredited New Labour cabal but this MP is doing himself no favours or the Tory party for that matter and I am a suporter of them. His performance on Newsnight was little short of disastrous and he made himself look plain silly to the extent that his interviewer could barely stop himself from “guffawing” out loud.
He needs to calm down, stop all the silly gimmicks, get off his “hobby-horse” of Polish people in Britain because it get’s people’s backs up for numerous reasons and just try to do his job as a mature adult.
As a strong Tory supporter, to say that I was disapointed with him is a vast understatement. I will not be voting for him next time if I see anything else like it.