Alistair Darling and Chris Mullin spoke to packed houses at weekend book festival as MPs face light duties at Westminster
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Alistair Darling was a big pull at the Words by the Water book festival in Keswick at the weekend. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
Voters could be forgiven for thinking that the House of Commons has taken an extended sabbatical.
In recent weeks MPs have been allowed to skip Westminster as the parties impose a one line whip on most business. This means that MPs are expected to vote in favour of the government or opposition line but can busy themselves in their constituencies if they prefer.
Most of the heavy lifting in recent weeks has taken place in the House of Lords. Last week peers allowed the welfare reform bill to pass its final stages after a bumpy ride. On Tuesday Labour and some Liberal Democrat peers will be challenging the level of competition in the health and social care bill.
Today's business in the House of Commons is pretty typical of the light load. This is what we can expect:
2.35pm: The monthly session of questions to Iain Duncan Smith and his ministerial team at the department of work and pensions
3.30pm: Statement by David Cameron on last week's European Council
Sometime after 4.30pm two opposition day debates by the Labour party on:
: Jobs and growth in a low carbon economy
: Living standards
10pm: Adjournment debate by Graeme Morrice on the golden anniversary of Livingston New Town
Parliament may be taking life easy. But there is clearly a thirst for political debate beyond the Westminster village.
Alistair Darling spoke to a packed house on Saturday about his book, Back from the Brink, at the Words by the Water book festival in Keswick in the Lake District. As I tweeted from the festival on Saturday, Darling made some fascinating observations. He described the eurozone fiscal compat as "absolute madness" and warned that it would institutionalise recession in some parts of Europe.
The audience asked Darling questions which focused on substance and not the usual process issues of who's up and who's down which form the daily diet of political journalists.
So why is parliament snoozing and formal political meetings so badly attended while book festivals show voters clearly have an appetite for politics?
There are lively debates beyond Westminster because:
• Voters are fascinated by politics but are turned off by speak-your-weight machine politicians. Retired politicians who write honestly about their experience have an enthusiastic audience. Active politicians reading from a script, or memorising party lines, send voters to sleep.
• Humour works. Chris Mullin was one of the stars on Saturday at the Words by the Water Festival as he talked of the latest instalment of his diaries, A Walk-on Part. These are the third in the series of Britain's best political diaries since the publication of the mischievous Alan Clark diaries. Mullin was funny and self effacing as he told of how, as a junior foreign office minister, he made occasional visits to what he called the "stratosphere" – the land occupied by prime ministers and presidents.
Parliament is snoozing because:
• The coalition is effectively a one goal government – tackling the structural deficit. Most of the major reforms which require legislation – welfare, schools and health – have either been passed or are about to be passed.
• David Cameron believes that Labour mistakenly thought it could measure its success by the amount of bills it passed. The prime minister believes success should be measured by outcomes. Sometimes these need legislation (schools) but sometimes they do not (health). He knows he slipped up on the latter by allowing Andrew Lansley to introduce what No 10 now regards as completely pointless and counter-productive piece of legislation.
Matthew d'Ancona, who reflects and shapes Cameron's thinking, touched on this in his Sunday Telegraph column on Steve Hilton column at the weekend:
In truth, the next Queen's Speech, due on May 9, should read as follows: "My Lords and Members of the House of Commons. My Government will introduce no major legislation until it has fully implemented the measures already taken since 2010. I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels." Now that really would be radical. What better leaving present for Steve?
There is one person working hard to ensure that the House of Commons does not doze of completely. John Bercow, the speaker, has transformed the relationship between backbenchers and the executive by forcing ministers to come to the commons more often to answer urgent questions on contemporary issue. He is also extending the length of ministerial statements.
Perhaps Bercow is one of the few active politicians who could enthuse a book festival.