01/08/08 - MP Pays Return Visit To His Home Town

A Swindon born and bred member of David Cameron’s shadow cabinet dropped into the town to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

Mark Harper is the shadow minister for disabled people and visited Swindon to meet groups supporting people with disabilities and those with Special Educational Needs.

Mark is the MP for the Forest of Dean, but is no stranger to Swindon.

His family still live in the town and he is a former pupil of Headlands School.

Mark was politically active in Swindon during the Tory wilderness years – when the borough council was dominated by Labour.

After several attempts to win a seat on the council, and supporting the Conservative candidate in his bid for a parliamentary seat, Mark moved on and in 2005 was elected as the Conservation MP for Forest of Dean in Gloucerstershire.

But he insists that Swindon still has a special place in his heart.

He said: “I think it’s always that way with the place you grew up in. You’re obviously focussed on your own constituency and what is happening there.

“But then you’ve got one eye on what’s happening back home.

“I still recognise a lot of faces in the council from my days on the doorsteps, including Nick Martin and Garry Perkins. But then, for example, today was the first time I had met the leader of the council.”

Mark said he is pleased to see the resurgence of the Conservative party in Swindon and said he was confident about the chances of parliamentary candidates Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson, who will fight South and North Swindon for the party whenever the next election is called.

Despite his involvement in local politics Mark admitted that he did not come from a politically minded family.

“Politics was never a big issue in our house and, I must admit, my parents don’t vote Conservative,” he said.

Mark was accompanied by Mr Buckland, who took him to meet members of the Swindon Coalition of Disabled People.

Mark said: “It was good for me to meet people and hear their concerns about what more can be done, particularly in terms of making buildings accessible to them.

“And that does not refer solely to people who are physically disabled but also, for instance, the problems that can be caused by a glass screen between a customer and a cashier in a bank or post office.”

They also visited a support group for parents of children with special education needs set up by Mr Buckland.

Mark said: “This is a fantastic chance for more to understand at a grassroots level what people want to hear so it can inform what we are saying on a national level.”