Up early and out for a run. Spring has arrived, with daffodils all over the place. Today's showpiece was the Chancellor's Spring Statement. It followed Business Questions and at about 1230 Philip Hammond rose to his feet. I am not sure what he's been taking, but he was positively bursting with energy, cracking jokes at the expense of the Opposition and laying into Corbyn about his plans to spend his way back to the Dark Ages. It was a bravado performance and I said so when I caught the Speaker's eye. Naturally, being a former Serviceman, I asked for some reassurance that the defence budget would not be ignored. We need to spend more on our Armed Forces if we are to retain the number of personnel and equipment to ensure we can contribute properly to NATO and of course defend our island and interests round the world in the years ahead. A summary of what the Chancellor said is on my website, so I shall not expand further here. At 1630 I attended one of our regular meetings with Government to ensure that our views during these EU negotiations are heard. The meeting was a confidential one. There were four votes at 1800 and then we headed home.