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I write this during yet another lockdown. Given the time of year, this seems worse than before, for my own family too, and I feel for everyone who has been directly affected by the impact of Covid-19, particularly those who have lost jobs, livelihoods and loved ones. 

2020 has been awful for so many.  Every time it gets worse, you hope to wake up as if from some bad dream.  But no, with almost 70,000 excess deaths this year from Covid-19, the nightmare is real, and it is impossible to conceive of how much worse this would have been without the restrictions in place. 

These are strange times in Westminster. One of the senior MPs told me last week that he cannot recall a more bizarre period in politics but like me, he remains confident that we will soon see the back of 2020 by seeing off the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a veteran, it was a privilege to speak in the 2nd Reading of the Overseas Operations Bill.

Boris Johnson’s stark admission in the Commons yesterday that “we have reached a perilous turning point”, and the imposition of tighter measures from Thursday are a veritable game-changer in the Government’s strategy against Covid-19.

One senior colleague told me recently that he could not recall a Summer where he had worked continuously throughout Recess.  

After months of lockdown, it is great to see a return to normality and people enjoying the sunshine.  The opening of shops, pubs, beauty salons, sports clubs and many recreational facilities has provided a further marker in the fight against Covid-19 and it is right that the Prime Minister should push this agenda if it is safe to do so.

The opening of non-essential shops this week has provided a new marker in the fight against Covid-19.  While opinions are split on the gradual easing of lockdown, the Government continues to be led by scientific and medical advice and it is reassuring that the mortality and R rates are falling to new lows. 

With the Parliamentary recess spent dealing with the fall-out from recent high-profile media stories, I have been reliably informed by several senior MPs that the last three months have been unprecedented in terms of workload, casework and enquiries from constituents.