Straight in at the deep end
3rd June 2010
Louise Bagshawe talks to 'The Sun' newspaper about her first week in Parliament.
By SALLY BROOK and SAM WOSTEAR
Straight in at the deep end. That was the sense when the new crop of Tory MPs turned up at the Commons on Monday.
The first day was spent trying to buy a couple of work outfits - all my suits were crumpled from campaigning - and getting sorted with my security pass and laptop.
I had zero time, so I went to M&S and a bought a whole bunch of shirtdresses, skirts and tops. And Margot James, who is the chic-est woman in politics, said it looked very nice so I was chuffed with that.
I've had to change my ways - wearing make-up every day, for example. This is strange for a tombody to adjust to, but that's the reality of Westminster. Jeans and sneakers are out, skirt suits and foundation are in.
The first time I went to the House I didn't have a pass. It was a strange feeling, saying to a policeman "Excuse me, I'm a Member of Parliament and I need an escort inside." Part of my brain was scoffing, saying 'No you're not! Who are you kidding!' The reality that the election was over, that we won, took a while to sink in. Just starting to get used to it. The first few days I felt like an interloper. It's an incredibly strange feeling walking into somewhere as spectacular as Westminster Hall or the Lobby and thinking "this is my office".
The parliamentary party met that night in one of the committee rooms; new MPs waving to each other, old ones returning. The atmosphere was electric. I settled in to a seat next to a couple of friends. When David Cameron, George Osborne and the rest of the top team came in, the applause was thunderous. David was congratulated for taking a hundred extra seats - the most since 1931. He put the deal to us. It was agreed. I heard this meeting described as "muted" - that wasn't my experience. At that moment the long hard slog of four years campaigning seemed worth it to me.
For me, the priority is to be a hardworking consituency MP. I need to get an office, hire a staff. If there's been anxiety about anything in the first few days at Westminster, it's the mechanics of staff and office hire and setting up a budget. All the new MPs are hotdesking in committee rooms and it's hard to find a spare plug for your laptop. So I hit the committee room one afternoon and noticed an actual empty space at a table, and grabbed it and started to work on my emails.
Only five minutes later did I realise that there was nobody in that room I recognised and lots of praise of Labour councillors going on, which I thought was bizarre, until I suddenly twigged that I was working away in Labour's committee room. Sorry guys. Not spying on you, really!
The election of the speaker was wonderful - sitting down in the green benches for the very first time, and realising that the work of the team in Corby & East Northants bought me the right to sit there and to vote. Being a yard away from Sir Malcolm Rifkind when he spoke.
Watching David Cameron rise to his feet in the House for the first time as Prime Minister. I thought of all the MPs who have gone before us and hoped that this new House will be worthy of them and remember why we were sent to this place.
