Wednesday 21st July 2010

07:01 I got off to a good start by sorting through my constituency mail on the way up to Victoria. I’m looking forward to today because Louise is visiting the House with a couple of our very good friends, Stephen Batt and Ann Hill.

09:30 My guests arrive and I take them for coffee on the Terrace before taking them on a tour of the House.

11:15 We finish off in Central Lobby where I leave them to wait for the Speakers’ Procession while I go to the Chamber to claim my seat for prayers. I have arranged for Stephen and Ann to get gallery tickets for Prime Minister’s Question Time, but unfortunately David Cameron is in America for discussions with Barak Obama.

12:00 Nick Clegg is standing in for David at PMQ’s and although he does OK, he fails to dominate the Chamber in the way that Cameron manages.

12:30 We have lunch in the Strangers Restaurant. I have been at Westminster almost three months but this is the first time I have eaten lunch in the silver service restaurant; I usually use the Terrace Cafeteria. I was impressed with the quality of the food but it was far too pricey for me to be able to use on a regular basis! The Division Bell interrupted my meal so I had to dash off to vote, but my dessert was still on the table on my return.

14:30 I said my goodbyes to Louise, Ann and Stephen (as it happens I was not destined to see Louise again until Thursday evening!) and headed off to Committee Room 12 for a meeting of the Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee (of which I am/was a member) which met to discuss the control of donations and regulation of loans to political parties in Northern Ireland. After a short debate there was unanimity that the existing regulations should be extended for another 4 months to allow for consultation on a longer term policy. I have a particular interest in Northern Irish politics because my paternal grandmother came from Belfast.

16:00 Back to my office to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening on the dreaded paperwork mountain. I drafted a letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, expressing my deep concern about a letter sent to him, and copied to me, from the Leader of Kent County Council, Paul Carter. I have a meeting with Paul next week and will be relaying my concerns to him then. In brief I am very concerned that the Isle of Sheppey Academy is being lumped in to the overall academies programme in Kent and this is something that I raised in my speech on Monday. The IOS Academy was set up as part of the reorganisation of education on Sheppey and as such it should be treated as a special case.

22.45 Usually we finish at 7 o’clock on a Wednesday, but after a succession of divisions on the Academies Bill the final vote didn’t takes place until almost ten and I eventually left the House only in time to catch the 23:22 train. When I arrive home it is almost an hour into Thursday!