All MPs face a delicate balance – and vitally important linkage – between local and national matters. Monday to Thursday in Parliament is crammed with demanding activities.

Yet what one says and does in Westminster must always be influenced in a parliamentary democracy by what one hears about local views and thoughts and the way of life of the constituency which one experiences at the weekends and in Recess.

This last week, for example: I had a briefing from the Historic Houses Association about how local visitor attractions such as Bowood House face potentially disastrous tax changes. Tourism is an important industry in this area, so I tried to give them the best possible advice about how to get their arguments over to the Chancellor.

I told the Secretary of State for Transport about my opposition to HS2; I had a meeting with the Post Office to discuss mediation for subpostmasters, especially in rural areas; I was interviewed on BBC Radio Wiltshire about military drones which are now training over Salisbury Plain; I took a young constituent from Burton to PMQs where I pressed the PM about military cuts; I attended a funeral in Sherston and the wake in Castle Combe; spoke at an AGM in Malmesbury; visited Malmesbury Brewery (which is actually in Royal Wootton Bassett); attended the opening of the Malmesbury Community Hub and visited a Sopworth business which makes both an ingenious device to carry coffee mugs spill-free and now an outdoor raised platform for events even in our inclement climate. I went to a Point-to Point at Larkhill and looked into a Chippenham dinner celebrating Shirley Ritchens’ 50 years as a member of the Chippenham Sailing Club, of which I am proud to be a patron.

Some people criticise these myriad activities as being insignificant.

Others say that I am too involved with national events, insufficiently with local ones; some are unhappy that I cannot attend their events mid-week, when I have to be in Westminster; others would, I think, prefer me to be doing more in Parliament! There is no simple answer.

The truth is that an MP’s life and work must be a complex interweaving of events great and small, people national and local.

No matter how important matters may be in London, the MP should never forget who it was who sent him or her there. I am your MP, however you may happen to vote.