End of Term
Three months have flown by since I was elected in May. I still can’t quite believe how lucky I am to be your Member of Parliament andI am really enjoying my new job.
I arrived at the House of Commons on the Monday after the election and it was a bit like coming back to school after the holidays as I saw so many of my friends who had won seats. After trying for ten years to become MP for Redditch I have got to know many different people and the first few days were amazing.
Getting an office was the next big challenge and after five weeks of working on my laptop in the coffee shop I was successful. It is a lovely office in the Old Scotland Yard, quite a way from the chamber but large and airy. When the division bell goes you can see lots of us running for the lifts as we are on the 5th floor!
My other big challenge this term was making my maiden speech. As there are so many new MPs there was quite a queue to speak in every debate. I decided to wait a while and finally spoke in the Defence Review debate. I sat for nearly six hours waiting for the Speaker to call me and finally got to stand at 8.30pm. It was an amazing feeling and great to be able to talk about Redditch and how nice it is to live here.
I have also visited so many different people over these first three months and hopefully have been able to help some people too. I intend to spend some time with my family over the summer and lots of time in Redditch too.
All in all I have had a great first term and looking forward to returning in September.
