Valedictory Debate

Chloe Smith Excerpts

Friday 24th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith (Norwich North) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I begin by thanking all the House staff through you, as so many colleagues have done. The first thing I need to say to right hon. and hon. Friends is that it is literally my fault that we are having a snap election, because it was I who legislated for the removal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, allowing the Prime Minister to call an election whenever he chose. I am sorry for that emotional rollercoaster.

I, too, will start by thanking my constituents, who have placed their trust in me five times. That makes me the longest-serving Member of Parliament for either of the two Norwich constituencies in modern times, and I am deeply proud of that. I would also like to thank all the volunteers at Norwich Conservatives. I, too, need to thank my office team, including the wonderful Alice Burt, who has worked for me for 14 years, since August 2010.

After some tough personal times, which I have shared with a few colleagues on these Benches and beyond, I really want to thank my friends here in this place, including but not limited to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill), who helped me through these times. It is the right time to step back, for me and my family, and indeed to step forward to the next chapter of life. I came here as the baby of the House, at age 27, and now I am at the ripe age of 42— I can feel a few Douglas Adams jokes coming on here, so I will just say that I now know the meaning of life and can say, “So long, and thanks for all the fish.” [Interruption.] Come on, that deserved more than that. Are there no more readers of Douglas Adams on these Benches than that?

It has been an absolute privilege to serve Norwich North. I am most proud of the employment project I began in my constituency called Norwich for Jobs. I am proud of the investment I have been able to secure for the area, with new train carriages now serving the whole of East Anglia. That is material to people’s jobs and prosperity. It has been a huge honour to be able to serve in Government and lead both the biggest Department and one of the newest. The passions I have from those Departments—for the labour market and technology—are ones I will take forward into my new challenges, especially in my continuing work to help those who are economically inactive into the right jobs for them.

Like many others who have spoken this afternoon, I am very proud of this House. I want to give the example of when we came together, across parties, to pass the British Sign Language Act 2022. We all know how important that is for many constituents, and in many cases it was downright iconic. I am very proud to have done that. Can I take this opportunity to urge Members who are standing to be accessible in their campaigning? I am afraid to say that includes making sure that there is a sign language interpreter in Downing Street whether it is raining or not. The same goes for all major announcements and from all parties. Let us do that so that 100% of voters and citizens are included in our political discourse.

I am glad to note that one of the last, quite substantial things the House has done is to make progress this week for the victims of the infected blood scandal, which reminds us of what we have to do better and what we must get right. From the last Parliament alone, I expect that we will be thinking again about the major decisions we had to take in those five years. I think about all the policy choices and terrible trade-offs that came from the pandemic alone; I regret some of those, and I do hope that they are the subject of a real debate in years to come.

From my roles in Government, I have a deep respect for a number of things that I want to touch on. From my first Government role in the Treasury was the notion that the public finances must be sound. From effectively a decade as the Constitution Minister and serving in the Northern Ireland Office, I have a huge respect for how our constitution and democracy work and how our Union holds together. As others have mentioned, working in the Whips Office gives you a deep respect for elected accountability through this place.

The role of Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, shared with my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Mims Davies), reminds us of the importance of public services and our duties to them and reminds us of our opportunities to help people into work and find positions that are best for them. Finally, I was able to support my right hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) by covering for her as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. That allowed us to write history in how we do maternity leave at the highest levels, and it gives one personally a great sense of perspective and possibility about what is ahead for our nation.

Having served as a Minister under all five Conservative Prime Ministers, I need to gently correct my right hon. Friend the Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace) by saying that I share that record with him. The sixth Prime Minister that he and I served in the House under was Gordon Brown.

I add a further anecdote at this point: I wonder whether I might be one of the only Members of the House who has been mistaken for not one but two other Members of the House, one of whom is a man. I speak, of course, of the wonderful and late James Brokenshire, who it was a huge pleasure to work with in the Northern Ireland Office and in many other capacities, as many hon. Members did. It was, I think, Quentin Letts, then of the Daily Mail, who called us robot twins with bog-brush hair. I thought to myself, if that is what it takes to match up to James Brokenshire’s record of public service, I am proud to have been his twin.

The other hon. Member who I have been mistaken for is none other than the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas), which is perhaps more unusual. I met an absolutely wonderful resident in Norwich brandishing a Green poster from her garden two doors down the street from my house. She said, “I think this poster is yours.” I said, “I really don’t think it is. I think it must be yours. Allow me to return it to your garden.” She said, “I think I recognise you.” I said, “No, I’m sure you don’t.” She said, “I do. You’re that Caroline Lucas.” I corrected her, moved on, and left her to her Green activities. I hope that she and others vote Conservative at the election to come.

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), who has briefly left the Chamber, who was the campaign manager for my by-election in July 2009. I am deeply grateful to her for that and for the number of other ways in which she taught me how to do this job. From that, we should all remember the joys of July elections—let us put our sun hats and sun cream on, and let us not forget to have an ice cream. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon), who I think will speak later. I still owe him a dinner for the leg that he broke while campaigning for me in Norfolk that summer. I thank him and many others who came from across the country to help us in Norwich in that by-election.

To return to Norwich and Norfolk, it is an enormous privilege to have served in my home county. Having grown up in Norfolk, it was as great an honour to speak at my old high school as it was to speak at the United Nations on Government business. Both are equal in the work that we do for our community and our country. I thank my mentor, the noble Baroness Shephard in the other place, who was my Member of Parliament while I was growing up. She first met me when I was 12 and probably recruited me to the party and to the cause. Like other hon. Members, I pay tribute to my parents and my family, which has have grown since I have been an MP. As we say in Norfolk, in a phrase that sums up tenacity and determination, keep a-troshin’ on—keep going, Mr Deputy Speaker.

To finish on a semi-comic note, my recent experience has been election, referendum, baby, election, baby, election, pandemic, cancer. Perhaps I am looking for a quieter life, but I hope that I never lose the sense of service, of empathy, of listening and of care for what people do, need and believe, because that is absolutely what we are here to do. I wish the next generation of public servants the courage to change what can be changed, the serenity and determination to keep a-troshin’ on on behalf of constituents, and the wisdom to serve both our communities and our country.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Thank you, Chloe, and best of luck for the future.