With the dust having now settled on the General Election results, and with the well-trodden campaign shoes being attended to by the local cobblers near my Rugby office, it was time to return to Westminster for the start of the new Parliamentary term.
After a general election, the new Parliament is opened by the Royal Commission in the House of Lords, in the presence of Members of both Houses, after which the House of Commons meets to elect a Speaker.
After this one of the first things a returning, or newly elected MP, must do before taking their seat on the green benches is take the oath of allegiance. Members of Parliament are required by law to take the oath and declare their loyalty to the head of state.
After the Commons Speaker has taken the oath, MPs come forward one by one to swear or affirm at the despatch box. MPs take the oath in order of seniority starting with the Father of the House (the longest continuous serving Member), Cabinet Ministers, Shadow Cabinet Ministers, Privy Counsellors, other Ministers and finally other Members of Parliament in order of seniority (generally based on when they were first elected).
When I first took the oath it was very much a case of ‘finding out the hard way’. In 2010 I was the new boy, in a place that closely resembles Hogwarts, and unsure of protocol and procedure. This time around it was a far less daunting experience following action on feedback from new intake of MPs from five years ago.
Standing in line to take the oath, whilst chatting to MPs from all side of the House, brought back many fond memories from my first five years as Rugby’s MP.
During the last five years the previous government tirelessly to get our country back on its feet and rebuild our economy. Many difficult decisions had to be made to help us turn the corner but now, with the foundations laid, the new government can set about ensuring a fair society everyone at every stage of their life: a job and home for everyone who needs one, help for families with the cost of childcare, reforms to the tax system to ensure people keep more of the money they earn, an NHS that truly serves local residents seven days a week and protection and financial stability for pensioners.
The new government will be a government for working people, the strivers and the savers. This Parliament will be one of the most important for a generation and I look forward to fighting for you and for Rugby over the next five years.