By Jonathan Isaby There has recently been an influx of new Conservative peers into the House of Lords, and yesterday Baroness Stowell wrote here about her initial experiences on the red benches. It has been remiss of me not to note their maiden speeches as they have delivered them, but my attention has been drawn […]
By Jonathan Isaby This afternoon saw the last of the maiden speeches from the Tory Class of 2010. Jonathan Lord, who stepped into Humfrey Malins' shoes as MP for Woking, began by explaining that he had hoped to emulate Margaret Thatcher by delivering his maiden speech last Friday during the Second Reading of his own […]
By Jonathan Isaby Monday this week saw the maiden speech from Julian Smith, the new Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon. He delivered it during the proceedings on the Government's second Finance bill of the session, containing a variety of technical measures that could not be included in the first Finance Bill before the summer. […]
By Paul Goodman There have been two maiden speeches this week to date by Conservative MPs. Dr Dan Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) was first off the mark on Monday, speaking during the Fixed Term Parliaments Bill. After paying tribute to Sir Michael Lord, his predecessor, he covered three main issues: the lack of […]
By Jonathan Isaby During the adjournment debate before the Commons rose for the summer recess on Tuesday, the new MP for the Essex constituency of Witham, Priti Patel, took the opportunity to deliver her maiden speech. In paying tribute to the MPs who had hitherto represented the patch, she made the following observation about some […]
By Jonathan Isaby Stephen Metcalfe won the new South Basildon and East Thurrock seat at the general election and made his maiden speech last Thursday during the committee stage of the Academies Bill: “I will be eternally grateful to the good people of South Basildon and East Thurrock for sending me here. They have put […]
By Jonathan Isaby Last night saw an historic moment in the Commons – the first debate initiated by the newly-created Backbench Business Committee. The motion commended the Speaker for reasserting that Ministers should make important statements first to the Commons chamber and reiterated the importance of Ministers doing so if backbenchers are to properly hold […]
By Jonathan Isaby Karl McCartney won Lincoln at the general election at his second attempt and he made his maiden speech during Monday’s committee stage of the Finance Bill. He outlined his concern at the lack of support for long-term share ownership: “What concerns me most is the lack of support for long-term share ownership […]
Yesterday saw two maiden speeches delivered during the debate about anonymity for those accused of rape, which I covered here this morning. Earlier in the week we covered Aidan Burley’s famous victory in Cannock Chase at the general election. Yesterday, he spoke in the debate as a newly elected member of the home affairs select […]
George Freeman won the newly-drawn Mid Norfolk seat at the general election and he delivered his maiden speech on Wednesday during a debate about jobs and unemployment. He began, as is customary, by giving a whistle-stop tour of his constituency which, he noted, he conducted himself during his three years as parliamentary candidate by bike […]
Graham Evans gained Weaver Vale in Cheshire from Labour at the election, making him the sole Conservative representative on the Mersey estuary. In his maiden speech yesterday he noted that there are areas of severe deprivation in his constituency where only 8.1% of pupils achieve 5 GCSEs – and that those pupils can expect to […]
Ben Gummer gained Ipswich at the general election for the Conservatives and is, of course, son of former Cabinet minister John (now Lord) Gummer. Indeed, during his maiden speech in yesterday’s debate on the Finance Bill he recalled that one biographer of John Neilson Gladstone – a Liberal Conservative predecessor as MP for Ipswich an […]
Thursday's debate on global poverty saw maiden speeches from two more members of the 2010 Conservative intake. Esther McVey, who won Wirral West at th election at her second attempt, said that she was moved to speak in this debate after receiving letters from the 20 members of a class at Hayfield primary school in […]
Delivering his maiden speech on Wednesday, former soldier and journalist Richard Drax – who gained Dorset South from Labour – said that he had entered public life because he could no longer “sit on my hands and watch our beloved country lose her pride.” He explained that he is by no means the first Drax […]