The General Election count for Hornchurch & Upminster took place at the Hornchurch Sports Centre, alongside that of the neighbouring Romford constituency. At around 3am the result was declared and I was confirmed as the new Member of Parliament. I made the following acceptance speech in order to thank residents as well as my campaign team.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the residents of Hornchurch & Upminster for the faith they have placed in me and my Party tonight. I do not underestimate the privilege they have given me, and intend to return their faith by carrying out my work with a sense of service and duty to all those within our community.
I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Dame Angela Watkinson, who not only gave this role sixteen years of her life but who served this community in many other ways through her charitable and voluntary work. I wish her the very best with her next chapter, and I hope to do justice to the great service she has given.
Democracy is nothing without choice, and I would like to thank my opponents for standing up for their own beliefs and giving residents the full political buffet of options. Putting one’s head above the parapet is never easy, and I appreciate this campaign being conducted without rancour and in a spirit of genuine debate.
Similarly, I am grateful to the Returning Officer, police and all the staff here tonight who have given up their time to uphold the democratic process. And my deepest thanks to my local Conservative Association for the unbelievable support and kindness they have shown me over the past six weeks, with special thanks to my Chairman, Bob, and Agent, Matt, who have ploughed so much of their own time into this campaign. I look forward to building our team to be even stronger.
This victory is not mine alone but the sum of years of practical support and emotional encouragement from my friends, family and colleagues who have supported me through life’s twists and turns and willed me on to this point. I won’t name you because your contributions cannot be ranked but please know that you have my eternal love, respect and gratitude. I would like to thank my parents who have given me such a strong sense of right and wrong, and who have nurtured me with their love.
Finally I thank my fiancé, H. Your words of encouragement in those quiet times of doubt and fear, and your unflinching belief in me, have been my sustenance.
I first stood for elected office because I was witnessing in my community the corrosion of the very values that make this country great. I have since been exposed to many other political systems around the world in many different countries, and it has become ever clearer to me that without good governance and respect for rule of law, all else falls apart.
It has also become clear that for all the challenges we face as a country, for all the disagreements among us as Britons, ours is a truly great nation with so much to offer the world.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s naively confident that history was over. The generations before my own had done the hard graft. They had won the rights, fought the wars, engaged in the tricky debate. We were on a plateau from where we could enjoy the fruits of their labour. It perhaps made us all complacent.
If there is a lesson to be learned from the two appalling attacks that took place during the course of this campaign, it is that this is far from the truth. Freedom is not guaranteed but something whose value each generation must weigh up and, if necessary, defend. But this fight won’t be comfortable with nice, clear answers. It asks of us at the very least to engage in awkward conversation when generalities, niceties and banalities would be so much easier.
Our nation should not fear the muddiness of debate but should see it as something for which we must be incredibly grateful, for it is in the shades of grey that we find common ground and shared values. It is when thought is pure and entrenched that we often face greatest danger.
We have a generational chance to reshape this nation as we depart the European Union, and to rebuild its sense of unity. But we need to restore our self-belief based on an understanding of and pride about who we are now, not simply what we were in the past. I hope tonight marks the beginning of this project, and the role of our community within it.