HORNSEY and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone was always going to be a busy MP, judging by the number of statements issued and photo opportunies attended during her bid to become the Liberal Democrat candidate, and then during the 2005 campaign actual. Vot

HORNSEY and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone was always going to be a busy MP, judging by the number of statements issued and photo opportunies attended during her bid to become the Liberal Democrat candidate, and then during the 2005 campaign actual.

Voters who were impressed by her energy levels and who enabled her to overturn a large Labour majority will therefore be glad to learn that she has continued in the same vein. This is borne out by the fact that in addition to the number of times she is seen in the constituency, Ms Featherstone has been extremely busy in the Commons, according to the official record provided by Hansard.

Since her election, Ms Featherstone has merited 2,559 mentions and while that figure pales into insignificance behind the likes of Labour's Tony McNulty, who had almost 7,000, it still puts her among London's 20 most active members on the green benches. The average number of mentions for London MPs is 1,882.

These figures have been compiled by the Liberal Democrats in Hampstead and Kilburn for the obvious purpose of undermining MP Glenda Jackson's bid to retain the seat which will be repackaged in 2010 as Hampstead and Kilburn. The reason for such an opportunity is that Ms Jackson has the lowest number of Hansard mentions of any London MP, just 40 since her re-election in 2005.

Many people would prefer to see their MPs spending less time in the rareified atmosphere of the Commons and more time doing the donkey work in their constituencies. It seems Ms Featherstone does both, while Ms Jackson does neither. Only time will tell what the voters think of it all.

A positive mention must go to Islington's equally tireless Jeremy Corbyn, who beats even Ms Featherstone's vitality factor with well over 3,000 mentions, though Finchley and Golders Green MP Rudi Vis is another Labour straggler, with only 219 mentions in the four-year period.