As widely reported, last month I returned to the back benches after three years in Government.
Leaving any job, especially one you love, is not easy but it was the right thing to do at this time and I am able to look back on my time as Public Health Minister with a much pride.
All of it is bigger than me but thanks to some of the things we put in place - the NHS long-term plan with record new funding, an ambitious new cancer strategy, a world-leading plan to tackle childhood obesity - I leave DH with no regrets.
Nobody (wise) goes into politics for fame, money or glamour. Every MP I know is in Parliament because they want to do good things and serve their constituents. I am no different.
But it’s a tough game (I’ve had some very sinister messages online since resigning my Ministerial post) and very often you hear from constituents with diametrically opposed views on the issue of the day.
Nowhere is that more true than Brexit which (narrowly) divided a nation in 2016 and has seen people dig deeper into their trenches since.
Parliament was in recess last week through Easter and, alongside time with Susie and the kids, it was great to spend extended time in the constituency chatting with people.
When we’re in Westminster we only hear from the extreme ends of the Brexit debate who come to us (often via click send email campaigns and I have regulars who contact me every single day) but back in the patch I go to them and it’s a more casual conversation with a more nuanced, compromising view.
I have made no secret of the fact I regret the referendum result but as a democrat I respect it.
That is not to say anyone, least of all me, thinks British statecraft has been enhanced by the last three years or that it’s anything other than embarrassing we’ve had to go and beg the EU27 for a further extension because our Parliament couldn’t pass the Withdrawal Agreement by 29th March.
Some will never forgive the “betrayal” of delay and just want us to “make it stop” whatever the cost. I get that but it’s my job to resist that and I’ve seen enough from my time in Government to know why we must avoid no deal.
A short delay to avoid that cliff edge - and give business in particular the transition period it begged us for - is firmly in the national interest and I make no apology for saying that privately and publicly and resigning from Government to force the issue.
I know others will make hay as a result but I say in all truth, if the answer to this sorry episode is more Corbyn, Cable or Farage, I think we’re asking the wrong question.
The Prime Minister has said she will leave office once the Withdrawal Agreement is passed and, regrettably, I think that is the right decision.
MPs of all sides should stop playing games, stop playing to the gallery and pass that Agreement (which is only the divorce) so we can move on and start taking about the future relationship between a sovereign UK and our friends and neighbours (and biggest market) in the EU.
I have said time and again, if Parliament cannot do that and the time from referendum to now continues to stretch out, everything including a further injection of democracy cannot be ruled out. That is not me trying to “thwart” Brexit or betray anyone. It’s simply a statement of the bleeding obvious.
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