Pizza & politics with Baroness Judith Jolly
After I had briefly introduced her, Judith Jolly kept the many new and old members thoroughly entertained with a talk on "The Coalition from a Lords' Point of View." Starting her peerage as the Lib Dem spokesperson on health she soon also found herself a junior government minister in the House of Lords, covering Health, Defence, Equalities, as well as Culture, Media and Sport. It was a very busy first five years in the House!
On her first day, Judith was shown to her own peg, once used to hang a Lord's sword, and as a J she was next to K and that peg's Lord came straight up to her and said, "Hullo, you're new, aren't you? Welcome to the Lords, my name's Neil Kinnock." Judith said that that level of polite friendliness and lack of stardom is the usual way things are in the Lords.
As new peers are unable to participate in debates until after their maiden speech, and as Judith wanted to get on with things, she was sworn in on Monday, gave her maiden speech on the Thursday, and got down to work. As she had some recent knowledge on health issues, that is what she covered in the speech and it was shortly after that that Nick Clegg asked her to lead on health. She put a strong Lib Dem team together, with colleagues who had individual strengths in research, health education, mental health and governance and, of course, the great Shirley Williams. "She was a star to me," Judith confessed, "and it was great to be working so closely with her at last."
Speaking about the Health and Social Care Bill, Judith said that by the time it became an Act of Parliament, it was because of Liberal Democrat intervention and scrutiny a better piece of legislation.
Judith spoke of the general level of constructive work that goes on from members of all parties, especially as the committees are made up of peers from many political and professional backgrounds. "Sometimes you work closely with your opposite number to reach a decision. You decide how things will work best for the taxpayer and the consumer and find a consensus quickly."
As a Member of the Lords she found briefings can be arranged quickly. Living in the Launceston area an assumption was made that Judith knew all about farming and she was asked to ask a question about the pig industry, about which she knew nothing. So she contacted Pig Farmers Weekly and they sent a representative to brief her within hours.
Following our recent leadership election, Tim Farron telephoned Judith to ask her to lead on defence. She met recently with Babcocks to find out how Devonport Dockyard works with the recent contracts and confirmed that the new frigates will be based in Plymouth and Portsmouth but the new carriers will all be in Portsmouth. "They are enormous," she said. "This apparently presented too big a navigation problem for these ships around Drake's Island and the Breakwater." Although Judith remembers when tens of thousands were employed in the dockyard, she said the future is now looking good and secure there.
Following a Q&A session the pizzas arrived and the politics continued as we ate. Everyone agreed it had been a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable evening. We are extremely grateful to Judith for sharing her knowledge and experience with us once again and feel grateful that Plymouth is still so closely associated with such an excellent member of the House of Lords.