Week in Westminster

Margot James writes for the House Magazine.

Thirty-three years after she first resolved to sit on the green benches, Margot James records a dizzying week of office-organising, function-attending and initiation to the sometimes surreal world of Westminster.

Monday, May 17

My first call is to the Members’ Services room in Portcullis House. There is one more certainty in life besides death and taxes, and that is IT hell. I am experiencing this as I try to migrate from one laptop and blackberry to a new laptop and blackberry.

How to organise my various email addresses and phone numbers is a far worse problem than having no office. I am used to working on the run and from no fixed abode, so the hot-desking arrangements made for new MPs in committee rooms are quite adequate for me. But by the end of the first week they are testing for Kate, who has a mounting pile of documents to file and just my small locker for the purpose.

I try out the Adjournment restaurant for lunch with David Thompson, presenter on the BBC Politics Show. The Politics Show followed Stourbridge during the election, and it is great to catch up with David without the usual worry about what he has up his sleeve for the Sunday show. We both miss Stourbridge.

Later I drop into the government Whips’ Office for some advice. They say they are ‘there to help’, so I put them to the test. So far so good, and I leave knowing where I am going to target for a seat in the chamber tomorrow, and some idea of what is expected of me over the next ten days.

Tuesday, May 18

The big day has arrived. Thirty-three years ago I first sat in the Public Gallery and thought, ‘this is what I want to do’ – it certainly has taken a while, but here I am, about to take my seat.

First of all, there is a mounting pile of correspondence I must go through with Kate. Some of the casework is bewildering at first, but I start to make progress. Luckily I was a councillor for two years, and that comes in handy as it is very much ‘learn on the job’.

I meet some newly elected friends for a quick lunch in Portcullis House before leaving ridiculously early for the election of the Speaker. I am by nature always cutting it fine, running slightly late, trying to pack everything in. But Alistair Burt has put the fear of God into me about timekeeping in the House, and so far I have been on time for everything. I am now approaching the chamber, half an hour before proceedings are scheduled to start.

My target area is relatively clear and I proceed there and sit between Michael Ellis (Northamptonshire North) and Amber Rudd (Hastings & Rye) on the third row behind the front bench near to the aisle. Behind the seat next to us is a torn-off bit of paper on which is scrawled ‘Bercow’. Amazing, I am to sit next to the Speaker during his election.

Within 20 minutes the chamber is filled to the rafters and our cabinet colleagues walk in and take their seats on the government front benches for the first time in 13 long years. It is a very emotional occasion for lots of reasons, and the atmosphere is thrilling when the father of the House gets up to speak.

I am home by 6pm for the second night running. This is week two, and my partner Jay is starting to wonder “when we are all going to get down to some work”. She is used to me being away in Stourbridge or working very late when I am in London. Jay is resolutely not interested in politics, and keeps my feet on the ground.

Wednesday, May 19

The Institute for Government is laying on seminars for new MPs, and I arrive this morning for one on how backbenchers can use the levers of Parliament and government on behalf of their constituency. It is a very good session addressed by civil servants, academics and MPs.

A civil servant from the Cabinet Office describes how, as attention turned to a hung Parliament, plans were made for the possibility of a minority government. Seminars were planned, entitled ‘Governing as if Parliament mattered’. Hmm… salutary, I am sure. We will have to make sure Parliament does matter, and to that end I look forward to Nick Clegg’s speech on constitutional reform later today.

Back to the House to go through casework with Kate. There are interesting proposals for a market in Lye, a briefing from Tesco on the Crown Centre development (at last), and some difficult housing issues to help resolve.

I make useful progress, after which I meet up with Isabel Oakeshott from the Sunday Times on the Terrace. I always enjoy our meetings and am immediately brought up to speed about what is ‘really going on’. On our way out I bump in to a flood of Conservative MPs coming in the opposite direction, off to a meeting of the parliamentary party that I do not know about.

I join them, and it is the announcement of a vote on whether the 1922 committee should include members of the government this time round, or whether it should remain the voice of the Conservative back benches. I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t received notice of the meeting, so I call the Whips’ Office afterwards to get this sorted out.

Happily I did receive an invite an hour earlier to drinks at Number 10. This is a big draw, obviously, so I adjust my evening plans so I can go. As I walk up Downing Street I regret the changes that have taken place that keep the public out, looking through railings from Whitehall.

Good to bump into Andy Coulson, who assures me that yes, we are going to handle the media very differently to the Alastair Campbell regime. I offer my congratulations to William Hague and enter the truly splendid state rooms which are a vast expanse that you would never imagine lay behind the relatively small exterior of Number 10. The prime minister comes round and offers his congratulations to us new MPs on our election victories.

Back to the House for a dinner with the Cornerstone Group of MPs, where I find myself in complete agreement with John Redwood in his speech on the needs of business and the economy. I am relieved to hear that our plans for Capital Gains Tax are not so onerous as reported in the press.

Thursday, May 20

Back to the House to swear my oath of allegiance to the Queen. I expected a long queue but I don’t have to wait long at all. I go to cast my vote in the 1922 committee ballot, and then it’s up to our temporary office to go through the huge volume of post that is now arriving daily. I put the finishing touches to the preparation for my first constituency surgery tomorrow.

Off to Stourbridge this afternoon, I am really looking forward to getting back. And tonight is the ‘mayor-making’ in Dudley, which will be a great way of catching up with our wonderful councillors and officers who serve the constituency.