21st May 2010

Thank You

Thank You

I want to start my weekly column with an enormous thank you.  Thank you to the many people who have helped and supported me during the three years that I was a parliamentary candidate: you have given me the confidence to stand up for the town. Thank you to the thousands of people who spared the time to talk to me and write to me: you have helped me be a better representative of your concerns.  And thank you to the 18,371 people who voted for me: you have given me the ability to represent every person in the town, no matter how they voted.

It is an extraordinary honour to represent our town in Parliament.  There have been Members of Parliament for Ipswich since 1295, many of whom were fiercely independent defenders of the town.  Readers will know some of them well: Jamie Cann, Ken Weetch, Dick Stokes - some may even remember Sir John Ganzoni.  All of these were men who put the town before everything else.  I will follow in that tradition.  I am not the Government’s ambassador to Ipswich; I am your representative and your advocate both here and in Westminster.

A New Office

Part of being a good MP is being there for you, whatever the hour, whatever the reason.  However, in these first few weeks I’m not going to be as efficient as I would like, as at the moment it’s just me, a new assistant, and many hundreds of your letters and emails!  New MPs don’t walk into a fully functioning office: we have to sort all of that out ourselves.  I decided right from the start that I wanted my office to be in Ipswich, not in London, so I am in the process of finding a good base to work from – somewhere cheap, accessible and welcoming.  I want to serve you to the best of my ability but please forgive me if it takes a few weeks to get into my stride!

Learning the Ropes

In all of this, I have had to spend some time in Westminster on our official induction programme.  From teaching us how to table motions in the House of Commons to going through the fire drill, the staff of the House and the Government whips have tried to stuff as much knowledge into us newbies as they can.

Not that that has stopped me from making mistakes.  Parliament is built on convention and I doubt anyone, even those who have been here for decades, masters every rule in the book.  I got worried when I started getting nervous looks when I shook hands with MPs.  Soon all was explained: apparently MPs never shake hands, apart from the very first introduction.  If you do, then it is supposed to be bad luck as it suggests that you want them to leave the House.

So now I have to keep a mental log of everyone I have already met.  Hard enough, with 650 MPs – but worse still I have jinxed dozens of them already!

Chantry Heroes

On Tuesday I visited Chantry School to give my support to staff and pupils after the terrible incident the day before.  Headteacher Mr Fell and everyone else in the school stayed calm and collected despite being shut in the buildings during some very frightening hours.  Local residents, some of whom had their doors broken down by the police, showed great bravery too. Meanwhile the police have started their investigation with their usual care and dedication.  My hat goes off to them all: it’s the kind of spirit that has made our town.