Westminster Week 3

A bit late blogging on this but it has been quite a week.
The best bit for me was my Maiden Speech on Thursday, which I have posted already. It was good to get it out of the way but also, I tried to be careful in what I said. Future speeches may be a little more free-flowing!

The week kicked off with the Queen's Speech - the pomp and ceremony of it all is quite spectacular. I had arranged for a ticket for my mother to be in the Royal Gallery and took her to lunch afterwards. After the Speech, I popped into receptions run by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Inter-Parliamentary Unions - both organisations that link to other Parliaments. I popped into PFEG (Personal Finance Group) which was sponsored by the Pru - I couldn't stay long but I think educating youngsters about Personal Finance is a good thing. After a meeting about the '22 (Conservative Parliamentary Committee), I went to the Policy Exchange Reception (I think Serco part-sponsored this). New MPs were outnumbered by all sorts of Westminster people but useful to meet a few journalists, including the infamous Guido Fawkes and Cathy Newman.

I have also started joining some APPGs (All Party/Associate Parliamentary Groups), focusing on issues that affect my constituents and also areas of expertise for me or areas about which I wish to learn.
Finally, I finished setting up my first surgery. Please get in touch if you need to see me.