Valedictory Debate

Stephen Hammond Excerpts

Friday 24th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you so much for allowing me the honour of speaking this afternoon. I start by thanking you, and your fellow Deputy Speaker, for all your service to this House. May I also thank Mr Speaker for the kindness that he has shown me over so many years?

It is a pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd West (Mr Jones). We came into the House at the same time, and as he suggested, he and I probably have different views on what he regards as his greatest triumph. It is also a great privilege to follow my great friend, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill), although there was one moment when I thought I was not his friend. When I had the honour to be Parliamentary Private Secretary to Eric Pickles, he said to me one morning, “Will you come in on Friday, Stephen, there’s a meeting I want you to attend?” It was a particularly tricky negotiation with the Fire Brigades Union. Bob opened the meeting. He then said “I have brought along the PPS to the Secretary of State today. Stephen, what would the Secretary of State like to say?” at which point I was completely blindsided—a bit like with much of his cross-examination.

I realise that as I stand here today it is 19 years and five days after my maiden speech in this House. I was elected on 5 May and I spoke on the 19th. I said then, and I still believe, that Wimbledon, combined with Raynes Park, Motspur Park and Morden, is the best place in the world to live. We have a unique suburban village, a revitalised town centre, and a business community which I described then as “lively” but which is now vibrant.

The tech sector in Wimbledon is thriving and home to many brilliant companies, but I think particularly of various companies such as Rockborne and a med tech company which is changing the way we can treat arthritis. Wimbledon has many small businesses and is often portrayed as a leafy suburb, but the reality is that as many people commute into Wimbledon as commute out. I still believe it to be the best place to live and it has been an honour to represent it.

Since announcing I was standing down, I have found people say, “What is your greatest achievement while in Parliament?” I suspect all colleagues here can think of a few. I am particularly proud of the fact that I have been part of a Government who have transformed school standards across Britain. That gives life opportunities and life chances that were not there before. I was very pleased to be PPS to the inspirational Eric Pickles and it was a great honour to serve with my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) in his team as a Minister of State.

But what I particularly remember was a visit on 13 May 2005 when I held my first surgery. A constituent came to that surgery as the flat above had flooded her flat. For six months she had wanted for a piece of carpet to replace the carpet that had been taken away. That piece of carpet cost £77. She came to me as her last resort: she had been to Citizens Advice and to the local council; she had phoned her local councillor. I took up the issue with the council and two weeks later a cheque for £77 arrived.

That is actually a part of my proudest achievement: the service that I and my team have given to thousands of people. We should never forget that, when we are here in this place, there is the excitement, the pressure, the gossip, the chance to have a drink with a friend, but it is our work and help to our constituents that changes their lives.

I believe that we act as the advocate for our constituents against authority in the widest sense of the word. We should never forget that, for that is the power of good. I was saying something similar on the Iain Dale show about two years ago. Valerie from Wimbledon phoned in and said “Stephen Hammond is a wonderful MP; he is really great for the local community.” Iain Dale said, “Well I’m sure he’s pleased to hear that.” She said, “I doubt it, I’m a Labour voter and I’m never going to vote for him.”

But actually that is the whole point. Once we are here, we are here to represent all our constituents. We would like them all to vote for us but we know not all of them will. For those colleagues who are going out on the fight, I say, “Remember that, go out and fight for every vote, for you know not where it may come and it may well serve you in time.”

I think of a lot of things that I have heard in this Chamber today, and I am pleased to have sat through so many wonderful speeches. One thing that I think is important is that as Members of Parliament we should remember compassion. What we do and how we help is hugely valuable. It is a bit like what my great friend, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst, said: centre-right, compassionate conservatism is the way forward for our party, and it is the way back for our party to Government.

I particularly remember a constituent who came to me a few years ago. His wife had given birth to a child in Greece about 13 or 14 weeks premature. She was airlifted back to St George’s via various methods. Her son was treated at the wonderful neonatal unit at St George’s that I have had the pleasure and honour of visiting several times. I met that constituent a few years later.

I have been proud to campaign for summer born children. I believe that summer born children have the right to start school a little later; that improves their lives and life chances. It makes them happier, more confident, more academically successful and more likely to achieve their real potential in life. I am grateful to successive Ministers at the Department for Education, who have listened and changed the guidance to local councils at least three times. Although that is not law, it is now guidance—and up and down the country summer born children have benefited.

Over the 19 years, much about this place has remained constant. As many colleagues have reflected, there is still the camaraderie of friendship and the wisdom and knowledge of colleagues. To be fair, I also remember that on my first two days in the House two colleagues, meaning very well, told me how to run my constituency office and organise myself. Their versions were completely contradictory. What that tells all of us in this place is that the camaraderie binds us, but we each represent individual and different constituencies. I have always believed that everyone in this House, of whatever political colour, comes here for the right reasons. All too often, people forget that we are in this for the right reasons and although, as some colleagues have reflected today, politicians are maligned, what we do in this place for our constituents is important. Almost everybody I have met has come here for the right reasons.

The role of MPs has changed dramatically. When I arrived, there was a postbag every day; now I am lucky if I get one letter. But I do get well over 100 emails every day, which bring huge expectancy of a faster and greater response. Yet the reality is that sometimes the local council, the housing authority and—dare I say it—even Government Departments frustrate our ability to provide that for constituents. We also have a much greater local role than ever before. That is hugely important, but we should not forget that we are elected to this place to contribute to national life as well. In playing that important local role, we must remember that we are here to scrutinise and hold Governments to account. That is becoming increasingly important since we left the European Union because there is a greater burden of scrutiny on this House.

I join several colleagues in mentioning that the coarseness of political discourse is a concern and should be not just for the future but particularly for the next six weeks. People should, if possible, talk about hope and the sunny uplands and what they want to do for their constituents, rather than badmouthing opponents. Remember that they are in this for the right reasons.

I am pleased to see that the Government have made some real steps forward on social media, but some actors on social media still engender political hate. We must remain vigilant against that. Like so many colleagues, I would like to use this Oscar moment to say a few thank yous. I thank the Clerks and the Doorkeepers, and the police and security men who keep us safe. Many colleagues have commented on the wonderful people in the Tea Room. I think that I should acknowledge the people in the Pugin Room, who always used to say, “Ah, Mr Hammond—white Burgundy, family size.” I always seem to arrive.

I have been fortunate to have a wonderful political Conservative association in Wimbledon. I thank all my friends there. I recognise, like so many colleagues, that we are here only because we are part of a team—this is the Conservative team—and what I do for my constituents is because of the team of people I have. Over the years, the team has included Jerry Sherman, Ben Carleton Jones, Charlie McClelland, Alice Hopkinson, Paul Holmes—I can say that, even though he is now my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh—

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

That must have been a dark time in your office.

[Stephen Hammond]

Yes, our productivity went down.

[Paul Holmes (Eastleigh) (Con)]

So did your majority. [Laughter.]

[Stephen Hammond]

May I gently advise the deputy Chief Whip of that when he is thinking about future Government appointments? Jay Crush, Miles Jordan and Louise Stevens have also worked with me and put in extraordinary efforts.

As ever, my biggest thanks, like those of so many here, are to my family: to my wife, who is looking after her father today; and to my daughter, who is in the Gallery. No one could have wished for a more supportive family. They went through the ups and downs—mainly downs in my case— of political life and put up with it so tolerantly.

Finally, I thank the people of Wimbledon, who for the past 19 years have put their trust in me to represent them here, to serve their interests and to look after them in this House. It has been a huge and extraordinary privilege to be a Member of this place for 19 years. As I go, I do so, like many, with regrets that I am going, but it the right time to pass on the torch. I am hugely privileged and thankful for having had the opportunity to be here for so long.