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A week in the life of Cheryl Gillan, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

Thursday 27th March

Picked up my new Smart car and whilst driving back to London via the Royal Automobile Club country club, stopped and noticed there was one letter wrong on the new number plate. This left me trapped and unable to drive on to Westminster legally. Impromptu lunch with my husband whilst Mercedes Benz sent new number plates and reaffixed them to the car. Drove to Westminster legally. Spent the afternoon dealing with a mountain of correspondence and drafting press releases on various issues on Wales that seemed to have broken all at once. Guest speaker at a Coningsby Club dinner at the Carlton Club.

Friday 28th March

Left the flat at 7.30am to drive to Aylesbury for a meeting with Buckinghamshire County Council, where we were given an update on, amongst other things, the waste management solution for Buckinghamshire. It’s a particularly difficult issue as, obviously, no-one wants an incinerator or a tip in their back garden – yet it has to go somewhere. It will be interesting to see how this project develops. 

After a convivial lunch with my husband (second day running), my constituency secretary and my researcher in an excellent local pub in Amersham Old Town, I held a surgery for constituents in my Amersham office. Surgeries are always very varied affairs, throwing up wildly different but equally complex issues. I wish I had a magic wand to help with some of the saddest cases. Still, I do what I can.

Cheryl Gillan MP: Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

Cheryl is Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

Politics in Wales is changing and Welsh Conservatives are at the forefront of that change. The days when Wales was perceived as a Conservativ-free zone are over. Now with three Members of Parliament at Westminster, eleven Conservative Assembly Members, a Member of the European Member of Parliament and a seat in the Shadow Cabinet, Welsh conservative politics are on the move.

Since I was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales in December 2005, in addition to giving Wales a strong voice in the Shadow Cabinet, I have concentrated on four main areas.

Covering the Ground

Having been born and brought up in Cardiff, I have been renewing my knowledge and understanding of Wales, travelling the length and breadth of the country to ensure that I gain as much insight as possible into current issues and developments. These visits cover a vast range of areas from farms to industrial operations, from defence facilities to hospitals and schools and they consume a great deal of time and planning. But they give me the opportunity to learn at first hand what will be required in Government.

I have been impressed by our potential in Wales - from the stunningly beautiful countryside and natural assets to the cutting edge technology in our businesses. But saddened by the poverty and unresolved problems which an incoming Conservative government must address.