We welcome Richard Coates Middle School from Ponteland to the House of Commons tomorrow, for a tour and Q and A; and there are other constituents coming to the house this week for various meetings, including one v important one relating to a long campaign relating to interest rate swap agreements, where I am taking the constituents to see the key Treasury minister.
I have two Home Office security debates in the Commons today and Wednesday afternoons, and tonight should be the usual 10.15pm finish. Tuesday at 4.30 -7 there is a short debate on fairer funding of education post the election. Trying very hard to get all parties, regardless of who wins the election, to agree with the Fairer Funding campaign and it's reallocation of education budgets. This is very complex and a genuine ten year campaign across parties but we are definitely getting there, slowly but surely.
Tomorrow, I am also having lunch with Boris Johnson along with a number of colleagues who are part of Conservative Mainstream. I accept Boris is like a number 10 bus - you wait ages to see him and then he pops up twice in 5 days. For me this is pure chance, as his visit to newcastle on Friday (which was a massive success) had been planned for months, and the lunch in the commons is a monthly event where Mainstream invite leading figures like Sir John Major, Michael Heseltine and Boris and others in for a lunch of sandwiches and q and a with current MPs.
Thursday in the commons has some interesting debates but I have to be up very early Thursday morning in Northumberland for a variety of meetings.
