Gosport War Memorial inquest - perverting justice?

Gosport MP Peter Viggers has publicly criticised the opening of the inquiry into the deaths of 10 elderly patients at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the late 1990s.

The inquiry has been set up following concerns by relatives of those who died that sedatives may have been used excessively and contributed to the early death of the patients.

Mr Viggers is entitled to his personal opinion, but for him to use his position as an MP to intervene via the media as the inquiry begins is to undermine an independent process which seeks to bring closure to the many local families who have been through great heartache and pain. His actions cannot be blamed on naivety – he has been a politician for far too long for this to be a plausible explanation. They can only be seen as a deliberate attempt to influence the inquiry's outcome.

This is a shocking abuse of his position. He should either apologise immediately to the inquiry and the relatives of the deceased, or - if he refuses to do so - he should be reported to the appropriate parliamentary standards authority.

Moreover, by attacking the inquiry, he is also forgetting his fundamental duty as a Member of Parliament. Regardless of the grievance, his first and foremost responsibility is to fight for the interests of people in his parliamentary constituency.

Those who died were Gosport voters. It is irrelevant whether they voted for him or not, or whether he agrees with the grievances that his voters (and in this case, their surviving families) bring to him: it is his constitutional duty to stand up for them. That is an MP's job, it is what we as taxpayers pay him to do.

The rights and wrongs of this case are not for him to decide – it is for the jury to decide. I for one have no argument with Gosport War Memorial Hospital (on the contrary) and I have a completely open mind about this particular issue – and that is precisely what the jury need to have in such a sensitive case. That is why Mr Viggers' public intervention is such a serious matter, and must be investigated and properly addressed.

And if Mr. Viggers refuses to stand up for his constituents' interests, then perhaps it is time for him to stand aside and let someone in who will.