Westminster this coming week

Prudhoe High School is being rebuilt in March, but there remains an issue with the scope of the on going sports provision. I am working with the Prudhoe Community High School, and the various funding bodies, to get a speedy resolution on this and hope to have a round table in Westminster this coming week to help resolve this. There is also education questions on Monday at 2.30, followed by a confirming debate on the Women Bishops legislation. Wednesday we have further counter terrorism legislation being debated in the Commons, and I will be helping guide this through the Commons.

I have meetings or appointments this week in London with constituents, the Clinical Commissioning Group, Smart Energy, and with the association of Air Ambulances, amongst others, along with plenty of Home Office work and Women2Win. I am also trying to get a resolution to the Matfen broadband problem, which several locals, including the local councillor, Veronica Jones, have contacted to me about.  It is great news that Stamfordham, Great Whittington, and other local areas north of the Military Road, now have proper broadband but Matfen is lagging behind and we are trying to sort it. I am sat at my desk in the Commons prepping for the week ahead, which is chock a block with meetings in particular. Not looking forward to the cycle back to west London on the coldest night of the year!

Westminster this week

I have Home Office, Women 2 Win, and other meetings today as well as the European Arrest Warrant debate; this will mean a late night tonight - I will not finish tonight much before 11; tomorrow we have various other smaller bills to address, but I will probably try and go to help in Rochester by election tomorrow morning.
The main activity in Westminster is the speculation about Ed Miliband: Labour seem to circling the wagons around the beleaguered Ed but as Boris explains this is not a wise move.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11219697/Ditching-Ed-Miliband-will-not-change-the-fact-that-socialism-has-no-relevance-these-days.html

Conservative Party changing on merit -Jo Churchill selected in Bury St Edmunds & 4 women in Banbury Final

Last night the Bury St Edmunds Conservatives chose Jo Churchill, businesswoman [she helps run a scaffolding firm] and mum as their candidate: I have met Jo - she will be an outstanding, no nonsense, MP with real life experience and a great deal to offer Suffolk, the House of Commons and her country - more details here:.
http://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2014/11/jo-churchill-selected-for-bury-st-edmunds.html

The interesting point is that she defeated 2 other outstanding women - Helen Whately and Zehra Zaidi, and able James Cleverly = a strong shortlist.

And on Saturday the Banbury Conservatives choose their parliamentary candidate from a list of 4 women, all of whom have been helped by Women to Win, but again a list chosen on merit, not by an imposed all women shortlist.
Update: the Banbury Conservatives have now published the following about Saturday's selection:
"The Executive Council interviewed eleven candidates on Saturday (five men and six women) who were objectively marked against a set of predetermined criteria.

The names [of the 4 finalists] are as follows:

• Kemi Badenoch
• Rachel Joyce
• Victoria Prentis
• Helen Whately

The All Women final on Friday in South Cambridgeshire is good evidence that the Conservative party is changing on merit

4 Women chosen on merit in the final of a safe Conservative seat - things are definitely changing.
All 4 have had real jobs. All would be outstanding MPs, and all will be. Some I know very well; some I have coached as part of Women to Win. This assessment comes from the excellent Mark Wallace at Conservative Home:

Andrew Lansley MP announced recently that he intends to stand down from parliament in May and the local association will choose a candidate to succeed him on 11th October. 

The shortlist comprises:

• Cllr Heidi Allen. A Councillor in St Alban’s, Allen is Managing Director of the family manufacturing business. Born in Yorkshire, she studied Astrophysics at University College London before going on to work as an operations manager in organisations as diverse as Royal Mail, Tubelines, Esso and Churchill Insurance Group. In December, she was runner-up in the selection race in South East Cambridgeshire.

• Cllr Jo Churchill. A Lincolnshire County Councillor, where she represents a ward in Grantham, Churchill is the Finance Director of a scaffolding firm. A former school governor, she spends her spare time campaigning for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

• Charlotte Vere. Currently Executive Director of the Girls’ Schools Association, Vere has worked in the private sector for 25 years. She was the Conservative candidate in Brighton Pavilion, where she increased the Tory vote but saw Caroline Lucas turn the constituency Green. She was Finance Director of the victorious No2AV campaign in the 2011 referendum, and has campaigned for Conservative policies to be better targeted at women voters. Like Cllr Allen, she was a finalist in South East Cambridgeshire.

• Helen Whately.  A management consultant working in the health sector, Whately stood against Ed Davey in Kingston and Surbiton in 2010, where she increased the Tory vote share by 3.5 percentage points. Having worked at PwC among other firms, she helped launch the first online film service int he UK for AOL, and advised the Conservatives in Opposition on Media policy. She was a finalist in Wealden and North East Hampshire, and was longlisted in South East Cambridgeshire.

Observant readers will note that all four finalists are female – the association included the following note in its announcement:

‘As it happens, it’s an all female shortlist – it definitely was NOT imposed upon us by anyone.  It’s simply that the Sifting Committee thought these four were the very best from a field of 102, mainly high class candidates.’

Full article here:  http://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2014/09/shortlist-announced-for-south-cambridgeshire-selection.html

Sunday working in Westminster but with lots of sport for company

I am trying to catch up on the mountain of emails and ongoing issues, and prepare for the coming week in Westminster, which promises to be very busy. However, although the day will be long, I have a lot of sport - form Le Tour to the Grand Prix and Wimbledon to keep me company.

Tomorrow we have Home Office Business, a debate on Universal Credit and I am going to the Bright Blue Event and speaking briefly there. Tuesday we have the Modern Slavery Bill in the House of Commons and I have everything from Home Office PPS work on a Terrorist debate first thing to a meeting with the Falkland Island Government Representatives, plus an update from Foreign Office Ministers on the situation in Iraq and Syria. Wednesday there are opposition day debates on Housing and Education, and I hope to speak in Westminster Hall first thing on local plans. Wednesday night I am meeting with Women to Win and some of the candidates I have mentored. 
Thursday I have a breakfast meeting with the BBC [hate breakfast meetings - who was it who said - "only dull people are brilliant at breakfast?"] followed by Transport Questions and an all day debate on European Policy and JHA Opt outs.

We have several constituency phone calls, surgeries and Westminster visits this week, notably Hexham's Hermione Crisp who is in the London office for work experience this week.

Westminster this week

Busy week with Bills to be finished, training for Women to Win, constituents coming to the Commons, and a key meeting with Ruth Davidson, Leader of the Scottish Conservatives and one of the key architects of the Better Together Campaign which is trying to save the Union.
On Tuesday I have a series of meetings with various of the key UK ambassadors at the Foreign Office, including the new Falkland Islands Governor.
On Wednesday we will be welcoming the Energi Coast and Subsea North East team of businesses to Westminster, led by several of my Tynedale businesses who are genuinely transforming the economy in the North East. The work of PDL and others is the unknown success story of our local economy.