Dear {{ FirstName | default: 'Friend' }}
Welcome to my very first email update as the new Green MP for North Herefordshire! Thank you so much for your interest in what I’m doing. I’m aiming for weekly email updates - they might not always be beautifully formatted but I think the important thing is to keep people informed about what I’ve been up to! If you know anyone else in North Herefordshire who’d like to hear about my work, please do pass this on to them and encourage them to sign up for future updates via this link: https://elliechowns.org.uk/updates/ - thank you!
I’m also planning to record short videos from Parliament explaining what’s going on; you can see the first of these on my social media channels already. And I’ll be posting regularly on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram about what I’m up to, so please do follow me on those channels if you’re not already doing so:
https://twitter.com/EllieChowns
https://www.facebook.com/EllieChowns
https://www.instagram.com/elliechowns/
This update will be a bit different as there’s just so much to cover! So please excuse that, and just skip over any of the bits you’re not interested in. So here we go with a whirlwind tour of my first week as an MP!
The first few days:
After the election result was announced early Friday morning, I was delighted to be joined by supporters for a celebratory photo and numerous hugs! After a couple of hours of much-needed sleep the rest of the day was occupied mainly with media interviews (details below). In the evening I attended a regular community Open Mic event, and enjoyed celebrating with friends.
On Saturday I visited our four market towns: Ledbury, Bromyard, Leominster and Kington. It was simply lovely to meet so many voters and supporters. A Channel 4 film crew accompanied me in Leominster. I managed to watch a little bit of the football in the early evening, before ending the day with another interview.
First thing on Sunday I travelled up to Birmingham to record the BBC Sunday Politics show live, and then went to the Ledbury Celebration on the way home - a lovely event with music, poetry, food and more. That afternoon I had a bit of quiet time to empty the bins and do some laundry, though when interviewed again on 5 Live at 9.30pm I still hadn’t started packing.
Throughout the weekend I was blown away by the number of people who greeted me with delight in the street and came over to shake my hand or give me a hug! The atmosphere of hope and joyful positivity has just been wonderful - thank you all so much!
In Parliament
On Monday morning I was up at 0530 for ITV to film my journey to Westminster - cue a bit of panic about tidying the house! Another camera team were waiting for me on arrival at Paddington and followed me on the tube to Westminster.
I met up with my younger son Ronan (who’d been in London visiting friends) to enter Parliament for the first time as an MP. Inside I was met by a ‘buddy’ whose role was to chaperone me for the first day - super helpful when trying to find your way around a place as maze-like as the Palace of Westminster! There are many thousands of staff in Parliament. Everyone has been super friendly, and it’s been lovely to find a Herefordshire connection with several people already!
It’s wonderful to be part of our Green Group of 4 MPs. Meeting up on Monday morning for our first group photocall was great fun. We’re all different and I think we complement each other really well. I can’t wait to see how much we can do together in the Commons!
The building itself is of course completely awe-inspiring. The height of the ceilings! The quantity of gold leaf! The vast number of paintings and statues of old men! The extraordinary costumes and rituals! The ridiculously too-small Chamber! Much of it is aesthetically beautiful and of course an important part of our heritage; and at the same time I can't help but imagine improvements, especially the problem of there not being enough seats for all the MPs. It’s clearly going to be a bit of a bunfight every time we all want to sit together.
Indeed, for the first official piece of Parliamentary business - the election of the Speaker on Tuesday afternoon - I got there 45 minutes early to find there were no places remaining on the main benches. I found seats for our group of 4 Greens on some other benches, facing the Speaker’s chair - but it turns out that MPs can only watch (not speak) from those benches (why?!) So Adrian Ramsay, our co-leader, had to negotiate himself a space from the Lib Dems who had occupied all the side-facing benches. Sigh.
The other official Chamber business this week was swearing-in, which our group of four Greens did on Wednesday. We managed to navigate the process well, so didn’t have to wait long. As I left I heard that the queue of MPs was by then 2.5 hours long! So there’s clearly going to be a LOT of queuing, musical chairs and other not terribly productive activity. Hmm!
The proper business of the House starts next week, with the King’s Speech on Wednesday. After that there’ll be a number of days of debate on the King’s Speech, then I expect the new government will bring forward as much legislation as they can before recess starts. We’ve been told that Parliament will be sitting on Fridays in July to maximise the amount of business we can get through, so I plan to spend as much time as possible in the Chamber over the next few weeks, learning the ropes. I’ve already placed my request to do my Maiden Speech with the Speaker’s Office, so I’m hopeful that I’ll get a slot sometime during the debate on the King’s Speech. Now I just have to write it, and try not to shake with nerves when I speak for the first time in the Chamber!
The Speaker himself has been very friendly and welcoming. He invited our Green group to have coffee with him in his chambers on Tuesday morning; and on Wednesday night he hosted a reception for all the new MPs.
Aside from the Speaker’s election and the Swearing In, much of my time in Westminster this week has been focused on induction, including various training sessions and of course the inevitable wrestling with new IT. There’s no sign of a desk or an office, though I haven’t needed one as there’s been almost no time to sit down and I’m happy working in the Commons Library if there’s a free moment.
I’ve also been busy setting up my Parliamentary and Constituency offices. In this I am immensely helped by Cath, who was chief of staff to Caroline Lucas. I’ve got a fantastic team of temporary staff supporting me both in the constituency and in London, and we’ve already advertised for the permanent roles. If you know anyone who might be interested in working for me, please point them to the adverts here: https://greenparty.org.uk/get-involved/work-for-us/ - thank you!
I also need to find a permanent place to stay in London. I’m so lucky to have a wonderful cousin who’s kindly letting me stay with her while I find my feet. I’m going to need somewhere to rent long-term - ideally a small flat with its own front door, as close as possible to Westminster. I know this is a big ask! If you’ve got any suggestions, please let me know.
On Thursday night, after a very busy 4 days in Westminster, I took the train home and was met by my parents who took me home for a cup of tea and some House of Commons souvenir mint chocolates with my kids!
On Friday (yesterday) I held my first constituency surgery, in Bromyard. People came to see me about issues including health and care, support for veterans, education, and planning. I’m really keen to remain as accessible as possible for local people, and so I am hoping to run surgeries more or less every Friday morning, in a range of locations all around the county. Unfortunately because of the change to the Parliamentary timetable I won’t be able to do a surgery on the next couple of Fridays but after that I’ll aim to have a regular timetable. Surgery locations will be advertised on my website and my social media channels, and people can book an appointment by emailing my team on ellie@elliechowns.org.uk.
I’m also keen to keep on visiting as many local businesses, charities, schools, colleges, community groups and local events as possible. Please do let me know if there’s anything coming up that I should be aware of, or if you’d like to invite me on a visit. I’ll try to fit in as much as I possibly can. My plan generally is to spend Monday - Thursday working in Westminster, and Friday - Saturday out and about in the constituency.
As for this weekend, I’m going to catch up on sleep! We’ve also got a big celebration party planned tomorrow for everyone involved in the campaign, so that will be lovely opportunity to say thank you in person to the many hundreds of people who, working together, won this change. I’ve got several hundred thankyou cards to write, as well as a Maiden Speech of course! And there's a certain football game tomorrow evening!
I’ll sign off for now, and will be in touch again in about a week’s time. For now I’ll leave you with a round-up of all the media coverage we’ve had for North Herefordshire in the past week!
Thanks again and all the best,
Ellie
Media highlights:
Friday 5th: Radio 4 and 5 interview from the count, BBC Hereford & Worcester interview at the count, BBC Politics Midlands filming in Ledbury, 5 Live lunchtime show, Times Radio in the afternoon, LBC in the evening, interview with a Sunday Times journalist. Guardian coverage here and here.
Saturday 6th: Channel 4 crew filmed me in Leominster and interviewed voters; BBC News Channel interview in the evening.
Sunday 7th: BBC Politics Midlands live Sunday panel show (also this article); 5 Live in the evening
Monday 8th: ITV crew followed my journey to Westminster for my first day; multiple journalists recorded interviews at our ‘4 Green MPs’ photocall.
Tuesday 9th: BBC Hereford & Worcester interview, BBC Politics Midlands interview, BBC News Channel interview
Thursday 11th: Ledbury Reporter interview; ITV Central Lobby panel show. The Guardian published my op ed on PR.
Friday 12th: 5 Live interview; BBC R4 The World Tonight interview.