Becoming an MP


Yesterday, I was first publicly introduced as Wycombe’s MP. It is an awe-inspiring responsibility.

Unsurprisingly, this new back bencher was not called upon to advise the leadership over the weekend, so I was able to accept a couple of invitations, one to participate in the launch of Walk Wycombe and another to enjoy a concert by Wycombe Orpheus Male Voice Choir.

Walk Wycombe seems to divide opinion. On the one hand, volunteers and participants clearly enjoyed one another’s company and the opportunity to promote a sociable activity which is good for individuals, the environment and the town. On the other, some commentators have complained about the cost. Walking is so obviously a good thing, particularly around High Wycombe, that I am slightly surprised an initiative is required to promote it, but it seems this is so. Public health is not all it might be and we are all carrying the cost. Since the investment has been made, let’s make the most of it.

Wycombe Orpheus Male Voice Choir and their guest performers gave a magnificent evening’s entertainment to a full house. The programme was deeply moving. The Impossible Dream was impishly dedicated to all those for whom the election result was not all they hoped, of which, more on another occasion.

And to be introduced in the theatre to so many people as their representative at a time like this, well, it certainly puts steel in your backbone.

Today, a civic service and the presentation of a chess prize. After exchanging a gesture of peace with my LibDem opponent and speaking positively with a good number of people after the service, I can’t help wondering if politics was rather gentler before the Internet.

Tomorrow, we have a meeting of the Parliamentary Conservative Party and my involvement in events begins in earnest.

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Comments & Responses

2 Responses so far.

  1. Michael Adams says:

    Well, congratulations, I think. OK, I hope.

    My political re-education began thirty years ago, as I watched British politics. When you really have no dog in the fight, you can just enjoy the show.

    Now, dear Cousins, here’s something I can share from our side of the pond, that anyone born less than forty years ago will not know, first hand, anyway. A period of time in which there is no government is one of the best ways to learn just how unimportant government can be to the welfare and happiness of people not involved in government.