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The price of independence
Mar 26 2008 By Jon Walker
BEING independent has its advantages and its pitfalls.
Richard Shepherd (Con Aldridge Brownhills) was one of the Tory rebels who gave John Major such a hard time over Europe in the 1990s.
But his refusal to toe the line may have stopped him getting promotion, he warns.
"My mother was fiercely Scottish and therefore independent in spirit and believed one should never be beholden to people.
"I have retained something of that - and never been offered a frontbench position as a result." But Mr Shepherd believes that voters appreciate MPs with minds of their own.
He argues that this is why he kept his seat in the 1997 election - when many Tory colleagues lost their seats to Labour.
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