Dr Lee MP (Bracknell Liberal Democrats)

Bracknell Liberal Democrats <info@bracknelllibdems.org.uk>

Dr Lee MP

July 18, 2011 1:43 PM

A recent article in 'Private Eye' suggests Dr Phillip Lee, MP for Bracknell, is spending more time supplementing his Parliamentary income than many might have hoped or dared to expect.

Since he won his seat in 2010 (after coming a poor fifth in Blaenau Gwent in 2005), Dr Lee has made 113 separate payment claims totalling £40,000 acting as a freelance GP in Maidenhead, Slough and elsewhere. Most of these claims covered periods when the House of Commons was sitting.

According to the usually reliable website 'They Work For You', Dr Lee has spoken in only 11 debates in the past year and surprisingly did not even take part in the highly controversial debate on NHS reform on 14 June. At the same time his involvement in other Parliamentary business such as submitting written questions on behalf of constituents has also been rated as well below average.

After the discredited departure of his predecessor, Andrew MacKay, constituents might have been forgiven for thinking that Dr Lee would be anxious to show that he really was 'rolling up his sleeves' to serve their interests and was extremely conscious of the need to justify both his time and use of public money.

On the evidence available it would appear that Dr Lee, who holds surgeries for patients but not his own constituents, has some way to go to meet this promise. With the growing prospect of the eventual closure of Heatherwood Hospital and the need to protect many other front-line services, anything less than full-hearted commitment would be reprehensible.