On Friday I visited Able Flame, a small business in Moons Moat. They are a very successful small business who wanted to talk to me about the current economic conditions.

“I was delighted to meet the directors of Able Flame because I realise that small and medium enterprises are the backbone of our economy and we need to be encouraging more of them to come to our county and to Redditch.

We had a very frank discussion about the future and I was pleased to be able to take away their concerns and pass them on to Government ministers.”

Karen is seen here with Simon Johnson.

Richard and I both went.  What a ceremony.  And what a lovey day. Richard enjoyed watching the Queen walking in front of him in the Royal Gallery!

I am delighted that the Regional Spatial Strategy will be abolished and I met with residents from Webheath on Saturday to personally deliver the news to them. It was never right that a faceless unelected body based in Birmingham was making decisions about housing numbers here in Redditch.

I do however understand that there needs to be affordable housing for young families but believe that locally elected councillors are the people best placed to take decisions about our local commuity.

I look forward to seeing just how our new coalition government proposals will work out over the next few weeks.

One of my first visits on Friday was to visit the Primrose Hospice to see for myself the fantastic job they do for residents in both Bromsgrove and Redditch.

It was good to meet with the staff and chat through some of the issues that face them and I was delighted to be invited by Alvin Robinson, the manager, for one of my first visits as a new Member of Parliament.

Karen was invited along with many other new MPs to a reception party at No 10 Downing Street.

Karen thought it was both a great honour and a great satisfaction to walk through the famous door and mingle with David Cameron our new Prime Minister.

Karen, along with many other new MPs, enjoyed the sights and intrigues of Westminster last week and tasted, however briefly, the fruits of her success.

There was time to celebrate, time to meet old friends who’d fought election battles of their own and time to speculate on what form the new government might finally take.

It is not surprising that most new MPs liken it to moving up to a new school! And like many schools in your first days the hard part was finding her way around the labyrinth of Westminster trying to organise her office.  How can you roll up your sleeves and go to work when you’re lost!

Karen thanks everyone for all the letters of congratulations she has received but perhaps her most unusual and unexpected was one from His Excellency the President of the Maldives who she got to know as “Anni” when she worked on his election campaign not so long ago.