The Stray Ferret

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In September, the House of Commons returned from recess and the government battled an energy crisis and problems with fuel supply.

We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

• Mr Jones posted 10 times on his MP’s website in September.
• Mr Jones published three posts about the Bilsdale transmitter, which has affected television coverage across the district since August.
• On September 18, Mr Jones held a constituency surgery at Asda. It was the first since the covid pandemic meant surgeries could not be held.
• He asked George Freeman, science minister, to meet him to discuss plans to expand Labcorp on Otley Road. Mr Jones was later criticised by animal rights groups.
• On September 27, Mr Jones posted on his Conservative-run site that a planning application to demolish the former Dunlopillo office site in Pannal for apartments should be “called in”. It was later approved because it was submitted under permitted development rights.
• Mr Jones’ Twitter account is for ‘retweets only’.

Read more:

• MPs watch: Afghanistan, football freebies and food banks

• Animals rights group urges Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones to ‘wake up’

• Local MP defends ‘colourful language’ after F-word outburst

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• Mr Smith updated his website six times in September. He also posted about the Bilsdale transmitter and told constituents he was “really sorry” if they were affected by the disruption.
• He tweeted 13 times last month. Among his social media posts were tweets congratulating MPs who had been appointed to the cabinet as part of the Prime Minister’s reshuffle.
• Mr Smith posted nine times on his Facebook page.
• He made no spoken contributions or written questions in the House of Commons last month.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

• A regular Twitter user, Mr Adams tweeted eight times in September.
• However, he did not update his website last month. His last post was on August 19.
• On September 10, Mr Adams was filmed telling anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray to “f*ck off”. He defended his outburst and said his words reflected the views of many MPs.
• Mr Adams was appointed minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office on September 16 as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle.
• On September 23, he answered questions in the House of Commons of mandatory vaccine passports. In one answer, he said the government did not expect the passports to be needed from the end of September.