TRUST the people.
News outlets, pundits, commentators and social media all predicted a hung parliament, but the silent majority had not spoken.
When they did, their voice was heard in the most emphatic way throughout the early hours of last Friday as traditional Labour Seats fell one after the other to the Conservatives.
It was an extraordinary election, dominated by Brexit and far-Left policies that the electorate refused to swallow.
It is a huge honour to be returned for a fourth time and I am looking forward to serving as the MP for South Dorset in the years ahead.
There is much to do.
Expectations of this Conservative government are high, not least because so many supporters of other Parties have trusted us to deliver.
Education, housing, the NHS are just three of many priorities that effect, not just our constituency, but the whole country.
More than three years of vacillation, obfuscation and a refusal by many MPs to honour the 2016 referendum pushed these important domestic issues into the side-lines.
As the Prime Minister has repeatedly said, let’s get Brexit done, end the rancour and division that has blighted our country, and move on.
In that regard, my first day back in the Commons this week left me in no doubt that that’s exactly what Mr Johnson intends to do.
The atmosphere at our meeting with him on Wednesday afternoon was something I have not experienced in the past nine years.
With this majority, we can at last get things done.
And with Speaker Lindsay Hoyle safely re-elected, we all know that parliamentary procedure will be respected.
At the end of play today, the House will rise until 7 January.
Can I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.