\

For more information on DeHavilland and how we can help with political monitoring, custom research and consultancy, contact:

+44 (0)20 3033 3870 [email protected] www.dehavilland.co.uk

DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2015 www.dehavilland.co.uk 0

Parliament and the Assembly are similar, but very, very different. It’s like breeds of dogs – Chihuahuas and

Great Danes are both breeds of dogs, but they’re very different.

The same is true of Parliament and the Assembly. I won’t say which is the Great Dane and which is the Chihuahua, because that would be a little bit unfair.

Anyone involved in London Government who says they are not interested in going for the mayoralty is was elected as MP for Braintree in May either lying or massively lacking in imagination. 2015 with a majority of 17,610. Since his election, Mr Cleverly had been appointed to the Executive of the Conservative Party’s and has brought The is a fantastic job. It’s a massive forward the Health and Safety Executive (Powers) Bill, job – it’s bigger than a number of Secretary of State which is encourage harmonisation of health and safety infrastructures in Britain and its trading partners. positions. It is a very, very exciting, diverse and interesting job.

That said, I absolutely do not regret this move, and I think there are very different things you can achieve as an MP. It’s a broader spectrum of stuff, so the areas where you can stimulate your own interest and become an expert – there’s a broader range of things there.

So I see my future here. But if I said that I would never look at the mayoralty and think “hmmm…”, with what ifs, and maybes – I almost certainly will. But this is where I see my future.

The Government now has got a majority of – max 10 […] It is a wafer thin majority.

So the Government, the Conservative Government, taking Conservative with it, is going to be tougher than it was taking the Coalition backbenchers with it - and more important.

DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2015 www.dehavilland.co.uk 1

I think the 1922 Committee is going to be a way of coordinating the voice of Conservative backbenchers and letting the Government know what Conservative backbenchers are thinking.

Definitely not dictating – I’d be very uncomfortable if I thought even for a minute that we were dictating Government policy, because that’s not what the 1922 is for. But it is very much about flagging up bumps in the road before we get there, imparting to Government what the mood music of backbenchers is and harvesting ideas.

One of the really simple ways, which is massively undervalued by commentators, I think, is just talking to the Ministers - just grabbing them in the tea room.

I know the lazy assumption is that we as backbenchers are threatening rebellion every five minutes, threatening the Government with this ultra slim majority – I genuinely don’t see that happening.

It would be naïve to think that, with a wafer thin majority, which is always tricky, with some very important and contentious bits of legislation to get through, it would always be plain sailing.

Avoiding difficulty is not the skill. The skill is dealing with difficulty. And we’ve both got to learn, backbenchers and frontbenchers.

There are so many vehicles for doing that, Private Member’s Bills being one of them, but also Westminster Hall debates, parliamentary questions and conversations in the tea room.

At the moment I’m still thinking about the best arsenal of mechanisms to make that happen.

I’m still finding my feet a little bit, I’ve only been here a month. For me it’s still very much on the learning curve.

I think you could sum up what I’ve been passionate about for a long time it would be making business and the economy work for real people.

I’m very, very, very comfortable with helping the Government deliver its agenda, because it’s about unlocking potential. It’s about lifting some of the poorest people in society out of tax, to give them more money to live the lives they want to lead, looking about internationally and globally. It’s about

DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2015 www.dehavilland.co.uk 2

delivering on the concerns that people had around our relationship with Europe, around immigration, around our relationship with other bits of the UK. These were all things that were passions of mine.

I am also passionate about home ownership. London and the South East of England is getting to a point where it’s going to be almost untenable […] wringing your hands over this is all well and good, but we are going to have to do something about it. Young, talented people will just be driven elsewhere – that is untenable.

What’s being said is by a small number of business organisations claiming to speak on behalf of a lot of businesses. That’s not the same thing.

A lot of the voices quite concerned about our exit from Europe are the same voices that were concerned about our non-entrance to the Euro.

As our relationship currently stands, I would vote to leave the EU because it limits our ability to trade globally, amongst loads of other problems.

The fact that there is a credible possibility that we might vote to leave – will really focus the minds of our European partners. I think doing that will make them recognise that it’s not just in Britain’s interests that the EU reforms drastically, it’s in the EU’s interests that they reform drastically.

If we do get a deal that I do think is a good deal for Britain I will review that position – it would be illogical not to have that position.

David Cameron needs two things. He needs time, which he’s got, but he also needs the flexibility. He needs the room to manoeuvre and be able to trade variables – that’s how you negotiate. You demand certain things, and in return for those you give certain things up.

If we vote to stay in, I will absolutely honour that vote, I will abide by that vote and respect that vote, but I want it to be a good deal.

If the British people vote to leave, then the deal cuts will be the starting point for a post exit relationship. Either way, I want him to get a good deal, and the best way to get a good deal is to give him the time and flexibility to do so. That’s my default position.

DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2015 www.dehavilland.co.uk 3