Support of family is important in this job (From Worcester News)

Support of family is important in this job

11:57am Friday 6th August 2010 in

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WESTMINSTER is an intimidating place. Hundreds of years of history and custom dictate where you can sit, walk and even how you address other MPs.

It is, therefore, impressive that new West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has a firm grasp on the situation after just 10 weeks.

Sitting in her office, she explains how Prime Minister’s Questions works – the weekly half-hour slot where MPs can ask questions of the PM – as well as who each of today’s selected questioners are, including party, constituency and particular interests. As there are 650 MPs in Parliament, this kind of knowledge is no mean feat.

The conventions of speaking in the House of Commons are also a memory test, it turns out.

Mrs Baldwin explained the only person allowed to refer to MPs by name is the Speaker of the House – anyone else is referred to as your ‘honourable friend’, with additions for different jobs, let alone if they’re from the other side.

“It’s so interesting – there’s so much to learn,” said Mrs Baldwin.

Interesting? Yes. Intimidating?

Definitely.

But one suspects Mrs Baldwin is not intimidated by a lot. She is an Oxford graduate, who prior to politics managed multi-million dollar pension funds, and doesn’t seem the type to get flustered, although the amount of mail she receives daily – from her constituents, her party and Westminster – may push her close.

It takes her and her assistant most of the morning to wade through it.

Mrs Baldwin arrives at her office – the top floor of a building a little way along from the Palace of Westminster, which has a view of the Thames if you stick your head out the window – at 8am most days and can stay as late as 1am the next day, when the House finishes sitting. In between there are the letters to be answered – always by post, rather than e-mail – and meetings to attend.

On this particular day, there was not only PMQs – a historic event as Nick Clegg stood in for David Cameron – but Mrs Baldwin also spent an hour with the National Flood Forum, followed by a meeting with Advantage West Midlands to discuss the future of the regional development agency in Worcestershire. While all this was happening, she had to answer to the bell – going to and from the House to vote.

“I love working hard,” she said. “I cannot bear to just sit around being bored.”

But being an MP is not conducive to family life, which is why husband Jim, a film producer, her two step-daughters and son were set to descend on Westminster for dinner later that day to celebrate the eldest’s birthday. She said: “Your family have to be really supportive and mine are unbelievably supportive. I could not do it otherwise – it would be too miserable.”

Mrs Baldwin is West Worcestershire’s first female MP, taking the seat from Lord Michael Spicer who retired this year.

Born in Hertfordshire, it was never her intention to go into politics, but she became concerned in 2002 with the direction the thengovernment was taking.

“I’ve just been a normal person all my life,” she said. “My overriding ambition in standing for Parliament and getting involved in the whole process was to stop the bankrupting of the country.”

After going through the selection process for the Conservative party, Mrs Baldwin stood for Stockton North, a Labour safe seat, for “experience”.

When Lord Spicer’s retirement was announced she jumped at the chance to run for the seat, moving her family and spending four years making sure she got to know the “most beautiful” constituency in the UK as best as she could.

“To now be on the Government benches and seeing us begin to stop the waste of the last 13 years is very satisfying,” she said.

But her main concern is for her constituents, and she believes her new role on the Work and Pensions select committee is key to making sure she does her best for them.

“We need to address a completely unaffordable pensions system so that people can look forward to warm homes and long retirements without worrying,” she said.

And with that, she rushes off to prepare for her next meeting.