One of the Conservative Party's newer MPs was in Eltham last night to address a large group of constituents and went down a storm.  As the MP for Ilford North he has gained a reputation for being a no-nonsense politician who tells it as it is.  He spoke of the erosion of our civil liberties and freedoms, the damage the EU is doing to our Parliament, the disgraceful exploits of the government in buying votes to win the 42 days debate and the horrendous mess the next Conservative government will inherit from Labour.

It is refreshing to see a man unaffected by his time in Parliament, who still holds true to what he believes.

The Shadow Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, has welcomed an independent commission's report which calls for the restoration of the Military Covenant and puts the welfare of the Forces and their families at the top of the government priority list.  The commission was set up on the instructions of David Cmeron and found that many of the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan could have been prevented if adequate equipment had been supplied.  It suggests that the Covenant has all but been destroyed in the last decade and that we should have a full-time Defence Secretary, not a part-timer as we currently have with Des Browne.  I think that to have a Defence Secretary who also has responsibility for other government departments, especially at a time when our Forces are over-stretched with commitments in major war zones, is irresponsible and shameful.  No wonder Forces families do not believe their concerns have been adequately responded to, the Secretary of State probably hasn't got time.

In recent times it has become quite common to read of top secret files being lost on trains or secret data on millions of UK residents being lost on discs somewhere in the notoriously unreliable postal system.  At such times there is always the claim that it's not the government's fault, it is a civil servant who cannot be named.  Now we hear confidential files have been lost by a Cabinet Minister.  Hazel Blears always seems relentlessly cheerful no matter how bad things get for the government.  Whether she continues to smile remains to be seen, especially as this is one blunder she cannot blame on an anonymous civil servant.  I have to ask whether we can trust this lot to run a bath let alone hold confidential information on each and every UK resident and keep it secret.

This weekend I enjoyed a variety of events and activities around the constituency.  As well as meeting many residents at their homes I had the opportunity to support the Help for Heroes stand in Eltham High Street. I really didn't think the time would come when someone with a repetitive strain injury would be awarded more from public funds than a soldier injured and permanently disabled in battle, but that's 21st century Britain for you, where a traffic warden gets paid more than a trained soldier.

This fundraising effort and a social event at The Rising Sun later that evening were inspired by the tragic death of L/Cpl Jake Alderton, Royal Engineers, who died on duty in Afghanistan in November 2007.  I hope the volunteers who were out in foce on Saturday got a really good response but if you weren't in the area and would like to support this important cause, please click here.