Hi guys, welcome back to the Tory network. Sorry I went dark. Had business to deal with and couldn't find a guest blogger to take over in the mean time. We'll be coming back to you daily from now on. Thank you for your patience and kind emails.
Now.
In the media lately has been a bit of a fracas between Lucy Allan and some of her former staff. I've listened to the tape of Lucy Allan and as someone who has dealt with employees before in a management capacity I saw nothing wrong with her first few voice mails. The latter ones were, I admit, a problem. She clearly went too far and obviously she shouldn't have said some of the things she said. However having spent a month this year working in parliamentary offices I think I have a unique perspective when I say that it is a very intense working relationship between staffers and MPs. The demands on both are extreme and the emotions run hot.
It's not an excuse for Ms. Allan and I think she must understand that she did cross a line, but calling for her to resign is an inexcusable political move that I equally cannot tolerate. We all need to remember that Ms. Allan is first and foremost a human. Humans are not perfect and we all make mistakes. We all say things we don't mean, we are irritable and yes we are all - at times - capable of crossing the line.
To hold her to some higher moral stand point just because she is an MP is hypocrisy.
Now I don't know the staffers in question in Ms. Allan's case. I don't claim to know the validity of Ms. Allan's claims or the staffers' claims. All I know is that I have on occasion felt like lamping staff members and yes even supervisors that I've had the pleasure of working with so for me to say anything against Ms. Allan would be wrong and I think that in light of recent bullying allegations this dispute has been blown out of proportion.
Now is not the time for witch hunts - we have enough of them going on - it's a time to step back and assess the situation calmly. Like sane people do.
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