Into the Commons early on a freezing morning in preparation for our meeting with trains' minister Paul Maynard. I met my friend and colleague John Glen (MP for Salisbury) in the Tea Room, where we had time to gather our thoughts before walking rapidly to the Department for Transport. We arrived on time and were soon ushered to the top floor where we swept into Paul's smart office. Marcus Fysh (MP for Yeovil) was going to join us but pulled out at the last moment due to another urgent meeting. We had 30 minutes and both John and I made the most of it. Paul was well briefed and had clearly prepared himself for the meeting, which is impressive when you think how many meetings he must have every day. We made our case for line improvements between London and Weymouth, via Salisbury, and Paul was very receptive. He rightly pointed out that a business case was needed, and work on that is already under way at DCC and the LEP. There's also the slight problem that we do not know until spring next year who will be running the SW franchise. In the meantime, we will continue to lobby Network Rail to ensure our hopes and aspirations are firmly on their radar. It was a most useful meeting and we brought the new minister up to date with our plans. PMQs followed fairly soon afterwards and again the Prime Minister fended off the verbal challenges from Mr Corbyn, who raised some perfectly fair points. A working lunch and then in the afternoon I attended a reception given by the POA, with whom I do a lot of work. I chatted for some time to Mark Fairhurst, our area's rep, and agreed on everything! That's a first. I was handed a insightful leaflet called The Future of the Prison Service in which prison officers have given their views on how to improve things. General Ramsbotham was there to address us all. He has huge knowledge of the prison service as he used to inspect them. Former Conservative MP Jonathan Aitken was also there. I then had to leave to vote before returning to my office briefly as my next appointment was at 1700 with the leaders and officers from all nine of Dorset's local authorities. Dorset MPs were also in attendance and we listened to a short presentation as to which direction they all felt local government should go. I suspect we will end up with two unitaries, overseen by a joint committee. There's still some way to go, though. Back to my office for a short period and then down to the Chamber for the last vote. Off to Dorset.