It was always going to be a long day, with the controversial recall of MPs Bill having its second reading in the Chamber. A long run first thing in the morning prepared me for hours on the backbenches, as I wanted to contribute.
The Recall Bill was in all three Party manifestos and the result, I believe, of panic following the expenses' scandal and the feeling that MPs should be more answerable to the electorate. What people did not plan for was for MPs like Zac Goldsmith to push for amendments which would see the voters acting as judge and jury on the way an PM behaved.
No one wants a bad MP to stagger on in post, and the Government Bill attempts to fill in the cracks in the existing system for disciplining wayward MPs. But Mr Goldsmith and the new Ukip MP, Douglas Carswell, want the voter to be able to trigger a petition on parliamentary matters in addition to personal behaviour.
I won't go into what triggers this but hopefully you understand the principle. I disagree fundamentally with this philosophy, although I do trust the voter. MPs are representatives not delegates and, as such, have to make decisions which are often unpopular with constituents. That should not trigger a system which risks destroying an MP's reputation and ultimately his or her job.
My speech is on the website, so I will not expand on it here, other than to say that I believe honour and integrity have been undermined in the minds of the electorate due to the expenses' scandal and other matters, but then can and must be regained. You do not need legislation for that, but tough parliamentary and Party rules which see an MP lose their job for serious misconduct.
The debate lasted about six hours and I sat through the lot so as to get a feeling on how colleagues felt and of course to represent my constituents and their concerns.
We must be very careful in parliament not to offer kneejerk and populist remedies when the consequences have not been thought through.
That is what the electorate hates, in my view.
Still, an interesting day and we shall see what happens next week when the amendments are debated.