Parliament shouldn’t need recalling; it should meet throughout the summer anyway

We need reforms to parliament's summer recess in order to address the inevitable annual calls for it to be recalled over the break.

By Kevin Meagher

(Photo By We should reform summer recess to avoid an empty chamber during crises in world affairs. Photo: Getty)

Hearing a procession of MPs, newspapers and broadcasters urging a recall of parliament is one of the annual summer rituals of British politics. Parched for proper domestic news, the political media likes to accompany its heightened interest in foreign wars and humanitarian crises with entreaties that MPs should be summoned back to Westminster to ruminate over them.

As George Eaton noted the other day, there is no shortage of MPs from all sides publicly calling on the Prime Minister to recall parliament in order to discuss the worsening crisis in the Middle East. Conservative MPs Conor Burns, Nick De Bois and David Burrowes, (as well as Lord Dannatt, former chief of the defence staff) are the latest to do so. David Cameron is, so far, unmoved.