The Londoner: MP says officials ignored maternity cover request

In today's Diary: Siobhan Baillie says IPSA were silent on maternity cover / Kingdom Choir BBC script commissioned / Jarvis Cocker's theory on Harry and Meghan moving to Canada / Steve Baker on skydiving
IPSA difficulty: Siobhan Baillie MP
UK Parliament
20 July 2020

New Tory MP Siobhan Baillie claims she never got a reply after asking a parliamentary body about what maternity cover options were available to her, despite Stella Creasy MP securing locum cover when she had her baby.

“They just never came back to me. They were not good,” the Member for Stroud told us. “That was a shame.”

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) oversees matters such as staffing costs, including maternity cover. Last year Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, argued with IPSA to secure a locum who served as MP in her place while she was on maternity leave. Creasy told us she is helping Baillie. “IPSA swore to me that they would ensure that MPs would have options and it transpires that’s clearly not the case. In the real world, maternity and paternity leave is a normal concept.”

Baillie admitted she felt a little overwhelmed returning to work with her daughter. “I’ve only ever got one arm because she’s always on the other one.”

An IPSA spokesperson said applications for staff cover during parental leave were pre-approved, adding: “IPSA will contact the MP and her office again this week to offer further support.”

---

Album commission: The Kingdom Choir, conducted by Karen Gibson (Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Getty Images

The Kingdom Choir, who sang Stand By Me at Meghan and Harry’s wedding, are releasing a single via super-agent Jonathan Shalit’s record label InterTalent. The BBC has also commissioned a script about the London-based gospel choir’s journey from obscurity to stardom, and rumour has it the Sussexes will be asked to make a cameo appearance.

---

Theory: Jarvis Cocker (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)

Speaking of Meghan Markle, she has a surprising fan in the form of Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. “I think it’s good because instead of just submitting to being a punchbag or whatever”, he joked to the website DailyBeast, “she said ‘**** you all, I’m going to Canada to go and smoke some grass.’” We guess that’s one way of looking at it …

SW1A

Tory MP and ex-chair of the ERG Steve Baker has an unusual way of relaxing. “Skydiving is a great way to relax before the pressures of constituency correspondence,” he tells us. “When it comes to reminding you to focus on what’s really important, there’s nothing to beat the planet rushing up to greet you.” Anything that puts him in touch with the real world.

---

Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey tells the Political Thinking podcast about that infamous photo of her puffing on a cigar. “I do enjoy a cigar and what I hadn’t realised was that perhaps I’d spilt something on my top so I looked very hot … As a direct result of that not only will you never see me smoke a cigar in public ever again, I (now) wear scarves, so there we go.” You live and learn.

Paris Fashion Wheat and AJ unbuttoned

Maisie Williams and Reuben Selby enjoyed what the Game of Thrones star dubbed Paris Fashion Wheat as they posed in a field. Meanwhile Alesha Dixon and Azuka Ononye had a yoga session and presenter AJ Odudu undid her top button after an “ice-cream binge”. Respect. And drag queen Jodie Harsh explained: “Maybe she’s born with it …Maybe it’s three hours of hair and makeup.” Preach.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in