I am delighted to see you in your place, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I congratulate the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) on her excellent maiden speech. She has certainly made an early impact and I know will contribute much to this place, particularly for her constituents.
It is really good to be back here after two years’ absence, and I am grateful for the trust that the people of Meon Valley have placed in me. I will do all I can to work for them. I also thank the House of Commons staff for their warm welcome back. I have always been grateful for their support and look forward to working with them over the next few years. During those two years, I was fortunate to work for several organisations. I had a brief period as the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and spent time learning about the Hampshire constabulary, how hard they work and how remarkable that is given they are the lowest-funded force relative to population. I will use my time here to support the police and public sector workers throughout the constituency.
During the past two years, I have also worked with veterans as chair of the south-east Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee, and I am very pleased now that we have an Office for Veterans’ Affairs, as veterans have particular needs that we here should support. My other public appointment is with the National Citizen Service. I have seen the impact of the NCS in Portsmouth and further afield and was pleased to be part of the board and the new royal charter. The NCS is open to 16-year-olds, and the premise on which it was started by David Cameron when he was Prime Minister—to bring communities together and instil confidence in the volunteering culture—has impacted on more than half a million young people. It has been transformational.
I want to say a few words about my predecessor, Sir George Hollingbery. I have known George for more than 20 years, ever since we were both councillors on Winchester City Council. George was elected three years after me and I was appointed as his mentor. Those who know George will know that this meant I had very little to do. My most memorable experience of campaigning
for George in 2005 was the drive to tackle drunkenness by roving the streets of Winchester late on Friday night handing out Mars bars to those in need—apparently they reduce the effect of alcohol. George was a fantastic MP for Meon Valley and I hope to fill his shoes. In Parliament, he was a well-liked PPS, Whip and Trade Minister. In particular, I would like to mention his time with my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead when she was Home Secretary and then Prime Minister. I know that she found him a close and supportive friend during her time in office, and likewise I know how proud he is of the role he played in her Administration.
Meon Valley has felt like home to me since my parents moved there 33 years ago, following a life moving around the world with the Army and intelligence services. After many years of travelling, it was the first place I really felt we had settled down, and my home has been close by in Winchester and Portsmouth ever since. I was lucky that my parents were able to take on childcare duties while I pursued my career as an Ofsted inspector and city councillor. Meon Valley is a largely rural seat, with the wonderful countryside of the South Downs national park spanning much of it, and dotted with picturesque villages and market towns. I feel very lucky to have been elected to a seat with some of the best pubs in the country—not St Albans, but Meon Valley—which I visit frequently. Members have an open invitation if they would like to accompany me to the many small breweries or the vineyards, which make some of the finest sparkling wine in the country.
Much of the population is in the south-east corner of the constituency, in Waterlooville, Cowplain, Hart Plain and Horndean, just north of Portsmouth. There are close links with the armed forces, especially the Royal Navy. Waterlooville is reportedly named after a pub called The Heroes of Waterloo, because on its opening day, in 1815, it was thronged with soldiers returning from victory against Napoleon.
The constituency also played a big part in D-day. Churchill used an armoured train parked in the sidings of Droxford station as the base for preparations for the Normandy landings. He used it to meet with numerous Ministers, military commanders and leaders of allied nations. On 4 June 1944, he met Charles de Gaulle there and informed him of the invasion plans, quite late in the day. Southwick House provided the supreme headquarters of the expeditionary force for D-day and is still there for everyone to see.
Meon Valley is also home to the cradle of cricket. In 1750, Hambledon cricket club was founded and took on responsibility for developing the rules of modern-day cricket in The Bat and Ball pub during club meetings. It is a game of patience and skill, which brings me to the topic of this debate, foreign policy and aid. I mentioned that I moved around the world as part of a military and Foreign Office family. I have seen at first hand the impact that Britain has had on various parts of the world and where our values and aid have helped many people. I am a great believer in soft power organisations such as the British Council and the BBC World Service, alongside our aid budget and sporting links.
My husband and I were living in the New York area during 9/11 and heard how people listened to the BBC World Service for unbiased information. After the Army, my father served in the intelligence services. As I said in my maiden speech previously, we openly praise the
work of the armed forces—quite rightly—but not so much those who keep us safe without recognition. I pay particular tribute to everyone who works in the intelligence services and especially those, such as my father, in the Secret Intelligence Service, which is sometimes referred to as MI6. These people put themselves often in the very gravest danger to promote and defend British interests and extend British values. They do it without thought of credit or personal gain. That is hugely inspirational, and I intend to support any measures that give them the resources that they need to continue that work.
As some Members know, I was born in Aden in Yemen, which is something that I now have in common with only one other Member, the shadow Leader of the House, the right hon. Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz). I pay tribute to her brother, Keith Vaz, the former Member for Leicester East, who chaired the all-party parliamentary group on Yemen for many years. We both spoke frequently in debates in this Chamber about the forgotten war in Yemen, where civilians are suffering not just as a result of direct violence, but through famine and malnutrition, including thousands of children. I am concerned that, with our eyes often turned in horror to the cowardly and profane actions of Daesh in Iraq and Syria, and with tensions with Iran once more rising, we have not given the crisis in Yemen the attention that it so desperately needs. I will continue to bang the drum on behalf of its people and ask the British Government to continue to lead in peace discussions to bring about the peace and stability that Yemen needs. As part of those efforts, I am helping to re-establish the all-party parliamentary group on Yemen. I hope that Members listening will consider joining.
I am pleased to co-chair the all-party parliamentary group on women, peace and security, alongside Baroness Hodgson, as it is often women who bear the brunt of war and atrocities. We will be working to highlight that in conferences this year.
I have also lived in many Commonwealth countries, such as Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Australia, as well as the United Arab Emirates and the USA. As we leave the EU on the 31st of this month, we will have an exciting opportunity to strengthen our relationships with those countries and the rest of the world. I look forward to supporting the Government as we strengthen our own trade deals and other links. We must not, however, lose sight of the fact that Europe remains our neighbour and friend. I hope that we can remain a leading and supportive nation among our European allies, even as we extend our horizons further afield. I look forward to working with the Government on foreign policy and our one nation domestic agenda and, most importantly, to working hard for my constituents in Meon Valley.
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