Lucky to have parliamentarians who care
- The original article on CAMRA members taking issues with MP Andrew Griffiths' award from the body
Those of us who know Griffiths, his genuine love of the brewing and pub trade, and his passion for its people and products, will celebrate every opportunity to honour the Burton MP. His central role in securing the abolition of the beer duty escalator and two successive beer tax cuts has ensured his place in the industry’s hall of fame.
If there was any surprise, it was only that such an award should come from CAMRA, which has been on the opposite side of almost every industry issue from Griffiths over the past year – on the statutory code, on market rent only (MRO) and on planning reform for pubs.
Some of CAMRA’s more “hardcore” members (their words, not mine) and other anti-pubco campaigners took to social media to express their disbelief at the decision (the criteria for which are not clear) – in characteristically less-than-generous terms. They believe that Greg Mulholland MP should have won for his stunning victory on MRO, and few could have argued with that result.
But accusations that Griffiths has himself somehow conspired to close pubs are as ridiculous as they are insulting to a man who fights harder for the British boozer than anyone else I’ve met during my time at the PMA.
I am all-too familiar with the abuse Griffiths sometimes suffers at the keyboards of these one-eyed trolls, as is anyone who dares to see both sides of the argument. And I have written previously about their own shortcomings.
As I come to the end of my tenure as editor of this venerable publication - I leave for pastures new (well, deserts new) at the end of March - I will feel duty bound to set the record straight on a number of issues, but perhaps this one most of all.
The pub sector is lucky to have the support and sponsorship of politicians of all parties. The All Party Parliamentary Beer and Save the Pub groups are among the most active and influential of all of these cross-party membership bodies.
Other sectors on which I have reported in a 21-year journalistic career would love to have such levels of interest in their work from MPs and ministers – but few do. We might occasionally curse their interference, but they are only responding to what they see and hear from their constituents and the various lobby groups. That’s the democratic process in action.
Griffiths, Mulholland and many others in the Houses of Commons and Lords are doing what they think is best to help the pub industry. You may disagree with them sometimes or always – as do I – but it would be churlish to say that they don’t care.
Shame on the haters who have attempted to tarnish Griffith’s well-deserved award with their own invective and prejudice.
