Dominic Raab MP answers ConHome's Twenty Questions for the Class of 2010

Here is the latest in our series of Twenty Questions with members of the Class of 2010...

Dominic Raab was elected MP for Esher and Walton with a majority of 18,593.

1. What is your earliest political memory? Watching the Berlin wall come down on TV, followed by the collapse of the Iron Curtain. I remember Reagan’s moral clarity (‘Tear this wall down’) two years earlier. My father was Czech – he came over in 1938 - so it also felt personal to me. It showed what courage and patience can achieve.

2. Complete the sentence: “I’m a Conservative because… I believe in freedom."

3. Who is your political hero and why? I don’t really do heroes. But, I like stubborn optimists like Reagan, Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Aung Suu Kyi.

4. When did you decide you wanted to become an MP? Over the summer of 2008.

5. What is your reading material of choice? It varies. This summer, I’m reading David Willett’s The Pinch and a history of Alfred The Great (after I found out he introduced the word ‘freedom’ into the English language).

6. Who is your favourite political interviewer/presenter on TV or radio? Jeff Randall.

7. If you could run any government department, which would it be and why? The Foreign Office. Britain is at a crossroads.

8. Which non-Conservative politician do you most admire? David Trimble, for taking the tough decisions that led to the Good Friday Agreement.

9. Who would you least want to get stuck with in a House of Commons lift? Pass.

10. If you were in the US, would you be a Republican or a Democrat? Republican.

11. What do you enjoy doing to unwind and relax? Sport, I train at a local boxing club. And relaxing with my wife and family.

12. What is your favourite book? War and Peace by Tolstoy.

13. What is your favourite film? Carlito’s Way.

14. What is your favourite music? Stevie Wonder or Alicia Keys.

15. What would be your ideal meal and where would you eat it? Curry. There’s a great Nepalese restaurant in Esher.

16. What is your favourite holiday destination? South of Brazil, to see my wife’s family – they have a quiet place on the beach.

17. What do you most want to achieve during your first term in Parliament? Help the government deliver our deficit reduction plan, local democracy agenda and Freedom Bill.

18. Tell us one interesting, unusual or surprising fact about yourself. I defended Tony Blair from subpoena, by Slobodan Milosevic, when he was on trial in The Hague.

19. Tell us one interesting, unusual or surprising fact about your constituency. The Diggers, agrarian communists, were based there during the civil war.

20. Share with us your most amusing story or favourite anecdote from the campaign trail. Knocking on one door at bath time, to be quizzed by some young parents on school discipline, as their two soaking children made a run for it.

> Previously: Thérèse Coffey MP