Mel Stride - Early Days in Westminster

It is a great privilege to have been elected as the first Member of Parliament for the new constituency of Central Devon. The election was keenly fought and I pay tribute to my opponents for having kept the campaign clean and decent - this was good for politics. I am also hugely grateful to all who supported me, very conscious of the large amount of trust that has been placed in me and very aware that I am here to represent all my constituents irrespective of their political beliefs and this I will do to the very best of my ability.

Westminster has already provided me with some of the most memorable experiences of my life. Not least as a close-up observer of the extraordinary events that were to lead to the first peacetime coalition government since the 1930s and our first Conservative Prime Minister for over a decade.

I think most of the new MPs found their first days in Westminster exhilarating but also slightly bewildering. It was something like arriving at school or college for the first time. A blur of new faces and, for most of us, the unfamiliar territory of the Palace of Westminster with its numerous dark gothic corridors and staircases - many seeming to result in a dead end. It was a constant battle to work out how to get from one part of the labyrinth to the other. We were greeted by a series of induction sessions covering everything from casework, the rules and procedures of the House and not surprisingly, given the failings of the past, a thorough briefing on the regulations surrounding expense claims. All of this activity was set against the extraordinary events that were to lead to the coalition. There were two meetings of the Conservative Parliamentary party in this respect. The first in which David Cameron sought and received consent to the key terms we would offer to the Lib Dems. It was clear that we were making significant concessions not least on a referendum on changes to the voting system and in the area of taxation. But in return there was the prospect of a stable coalition with a 5 year term with many key areas of our manifesto to be implemented including on the scale and timing of deficit reduction and, particularly important to me, our programme for free state schools. The bigger prize for the country would be stability and the prospect of a government able to immediately steady the markets and set out with confidence on the huge task of sorting out our economy.

Our second parliamentary gathering was thunderous. It was held after the new Prime Minister had returned from Buckingham Palace and Number 10. There was much cheering, much applause, much noise. We had waited a long time for a return to office and for a moment we all suspended the disappointments of falling short of an outright victory. We could leave the reasons for that to tomorrow's analysts, for others to pick over and assess. In that moment we were just thankful for having the opportunity to govern and finally to be in a position to make a real difference for our country. For my part, as I left that meeting, I also felt a strong determination that we should work in good faith with our new partners and to ensure, in these most difficult times, that this coalition born of one of the most extraordinary elections of modern times, should both endure and deliver.

The following week saw me sworn in. This involved placing my hand on a bible on one of the dispatch boxes in the Chamber and swearing allegiance to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and her Heirs. This act is televised and just before an MP takes the Oath he or she is asked to state their name and constituency, loudly and clearly so that the media can establish who they are and where they represent and also get a good look at them for future reference. All members who wish to take up their seats in the House (or more precisely to speak and vote) must be sworn in first. If an MP were to make the mistake of speaking in debate without having done so then they would immediately lose their seat and trigger a by-election. I am not sure whether this situation has ever occurred before but I am glad that it is a fate that has not befallen me. Don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed the general election campaign, relished meeting so many people in its run up and election night is an evening that I will cherish for a long time. It's just that, perhaps like many others, I am quite happy to wait a while before going through it all again and to focus in the meantime on getting down to work.

Other columns by Mel Stride