James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, gives his take on the political scene from Westminster following Boris Johnson's selection as Prime Minister.

"It’s hard to put your finger on exactly what Boris has got. Stardust? Infectious enthusiasm? Unshakeable optimism? Clear determination to get us out of the EU and launch a phenomenal swathe of new domestic policy. Is he going somewhere in a hurry? Perhaps all of the above. What is certain is that there is a new atmosphere across Whitehall and Westminster, and I think increasingly spreading across the whole country if the newspaper front pages are anything to go by.

"There’s an excitement, an optimism, a determination to get things done which has been notably absent for three years. We have been bogged down in the Slough of Despond, and all of a sudden, we are freed to let our imaginations and our ambitions soar into the firmament. (Getting a bit poetic. What about some detail?)

"Well, Boris’s inspirational speech on the steps of Downing Street, and his positively Churchillian oratory in the Commons was stuffed to the gunwales with detail - an Australian type points-based immigration system; 20,000 more police on the beat; action to beat the housing crisis and revive our high streets and so much more.

"Never can an incoming Administration have had such a swathe of radical and exciting proposals. And the radical reshuffle sent a powerful message to the people and to the EU that he means business. “If you’ve bet against the British people, you’ll lose your shirt.”

"The gloomsters, doomsters and naysayers have met their match, and if anyone can, Boris will deliver Brexit, and then drive forward the domestic agenda in the dramatic way he laid out. Boris is a true Leader. It may well be a bit of a rollercoaster ride. But the sheer feeling of excitement, confidence, overwhelming optimism, is a very welcome change to the last three years of gloom.

"I found myself in a studio broadcasting a six-minute interview on National American radio. The interviewer was infected by the dreary pessimism of some UK commentators. It was great to be able to voice my enthusiasm and optimism for the future, which I have not truly been able to do for some time. When I was a child sixty or so years ago I had the privilege of sitting in on that great American broadcaster Lowell Thomas as he spoke in his daily coast-to-coast news broadcast. On his instruction, my two brothers and I chimed “Good evening, Everybody”, which was Lowell’s trademark intro. Broadcasting to 250 million people is a bit different to my usual slot on BBC Radio Wiltshire (which I love).

"The House has risen for the Summer Recess, and I am back in Wiltshire with a spring in my step. There are exciting times to come, and I look forward greatly to playing my little part in it. The guts and enthusiasm, the optimism of Boris Johnson, will, I very much hope, be an inspiration to us all."