Bracknell MP James Sunderland tells PHIL CREIGHTON how life has changed over the past 12 months …  and looks at what lies ahead

“THIS time last year, I was on holiday in France with my family.”

If a week is a long time in politics, then what is a year like? For Bracknell’s new MP, James Sunderland, the changes have been profound.

Twelve months ago, he was a candidate, selected after his predecessor left the Conservatives to join the Liberal Democrats over Brexit.

Now he’s taking some time out after a whirlwind of events: days after his election last December, the first stirrings of the coronavirus were being made public.

A few days after Brexit became law, on January 31, the UK’s first recorded case of the virus was made.

And just a few more weeks later, the nation was locked down in a bid to stop the virus in its tracks.

For any MP, the pressures that it has put on their office would be immense, but for a new boy just weeks into his parliamentary career?

We met just after parliament had broken up two days earlier.

“I was at the 1922 Committee on Wednesday afternoon with Boris Johnson who spoke to a number of backbenchers and it was reminded them that that was his one year anniversary as prime minister,” he said.  “How time has flown in the last 12 months.

“This time last year I was on holiday in France with my family and perfectly happy as a serving army officer, enjoying the break.

“Here we are, eight months on from my entry into Parliament, it’s been a huge experience, it’s been fascinating. I think becoming a Member of Parliament is a huge privilege.”

Mr Sunderland says that he feels very blessed by his new role.

“The important thing for me is that the opportunity I’ve been given: I want it to work. I don’t want to waste it, I want to be a force for good,” he explains.

“It’s very important that everything I do must be to serve Bracknell and the people of the constituency. By the same token, I have to be loyal to the party as well – I was elected on the Conservative manifesto.

“I’m loyal, I’ve been loyal all my life.”

But what of those constituents who didn’t vote for him, or want to stay in the European Union? How can Mr Sunderland represent them? “I do happen to be a Conservative MP, but I’m not very party political at the best of times. I’m MP for Bracknell constituency, that is my title.

“If people write to me, whoever they are, whatever their background, it is incumbent upon me to do what I can to help.”

He lives locally, and says he is familiar with all parts of the constituency: “I’m here as often as I can be.

“The bottom line is getting to know people (within the constituency) has been really, really important. You can’t serve the community without being part of the community. I’ve been very keen to get to know everyone.”

During the coronavirus pandemic has seen Mr Sunderland and his team cope with an exceptional workload. Bracknell has a coronavirus scare back in February when a GP surgery was closed for a deep clean.

“People suggest that parliament and their teams are not working flat out – it’s complete nonsense,” Mr Sunderland says. “We’ve been flat out since February, and rightly so, I’m a public servant and I’m paid. I’m there to serve the people that I do serve, and we’ve been true to that since day one.

“It’s no small undertaking to respond to everyone.”

There are some exceptions, of course: “There are those who seek to write to me three, four or five times a week, you have nothing constructive to offer.

“It’s just an excuse a settle a score or to try and trip me up. I’ve been quite clear to them: my approach is not to respond to them.”

Why does this matter to him?

“I don’t want to be in a situation in four years’ time and the next election where people have said, ‘Oh, he never responded to me’. We are responding. It might take a week, it might take two, but we are doing our best to respond to every single bit of correspondence from constituents.”

Mr Sunderland has still taken time to help out, volunteering at the Wokingham Borough Community Hub, sorting food and delivering it to people self-isolating and in need.

“I was delighted to be part of it,” he says. “To be doing deliveries across the borough and seeing people who were genuinely grateful for what the government was doing for the people who had written to me.

“At the height of the pandemic, in those early stages, I was getting more than 500 letters a day. We made the decision very early on to respond to everyone: people have had issues with universal credit, housing issues, school issues.

“For me personally, the highlight has been making a difference for those people that have asked me for their help.”

Just how did it feel to walk into the Palace of Westminster for the first time, walking the same places that giants such as Winston Churchill, Pitt the Younger and Margaret Thatcher walked?

“I had a sense of shock,” he recalls. “I’m pretty institutionalised by nature after 27 years in the Army, but the parliament is a very different kind of institution again. And I mentioned in my maiden speech about the sense of majesty, the place the sense of all the ghosts that have gone before – the palace is the best part of 1,000 years old. You can’t go into that environment without a sense of awe.”

And there’s the switch from being a private person to a public figure, “having a social media presence, being interviewed by journalists – it’s all very new and just another challenge to deal with.”

His army career means he’s a confident public speaker – he was briefing “big audiences” on a regular basis. “Bring on the stage doesn’t bother me at all”.

And his stint in the forces has given him a good standing for the task that’s ahead. With a large majority and Bracknell being a safe Conservative seat, you could forgive him for treating it as an opportunity to slack.

“No,” Mr Sunderland says. “I’ve never coasted on anything in my life. You don’t get to become a senior officer in the army without a lot of very hard work.

“If I was to go to this thinking that it was a safe seat that I could cruise over it for four or five years, I’ll be very mistaken. So we are working it hard, I tend to work really hard, but the important thing is that we’re getting the best deal for the people who have elected me.”

Mr Sunderland is part of the Blue Collar Conservatism group, which “champions working people and develop a conservative agenda to benefit the voters and communities most neglected by Labour”.

“The reason why it’s important is because Bracknell is a very Blue Collar Conservative place. The people in Bracknell as decent, they’re hard working, they’re honest, they’re straightforward and they’re pragmatic.

“What they want is the best school for their kids, they want money in their pockets, they want the best jobs, they want to go on holiday.

“They want to contribute as well as take. That for me, that’s really important.

“It’s about levelling up, which is Boris Johnson’s agenda. It’s very much about doing the best I can for those excellent working families.”

Will leaving the EU with no deal be the best way forward?

“The Conservatives were elected on a pretty clear mandate,” Mr Sunderland says. “In my humble view, it’s incumbent upon me to deliver that manifesto. And it’s also absolutely clear to me that we need to be leaving the European Union in the most expedient manner possible.

“The UK has got everything to gain by leaving the European Union. Not only is it what people voted for, it’s also what’s right for the UK.”

He adds: “I think that if the European Union wants the UK to leave with a deal, then they will do everything possible to ensure that happens. But let’s be absolutely clear as well. This is about brinkmanship. The European Union has just as much to lose, right with the UK leaving the EU without a deal as the UK. So I’m pretty clear that if the politicians get their act together and do their job properly, we’ll be living with the right outcome.”

Pausing the leaving process during the pandemic would, Mr Sunderland feels, “play into the Remain agenda. I think it would have taken the country backwards … we need to get on with it.”

What does Mr Sunderland make of Boris Johnson? It turns out that he’s known him for a while.

“He was foreign secretary and I met him at Sandhurst when he came for the Anglo-French summit. I met him in Peterborough when he was campaigning for a by-election. I’ve spent some time with him … he is remarkably friendly.

“He’s a man of great charisma, he’s got clear vision and he’s also a very good leader.”

Mr Sunderland adds: “He’s box office wherever he goes. He gets a fantastic reception – people want to see him, they want to talk to him and rightly so, he’s a personality in his own right and I’m very, very happy to serve him.”

Mr Sunderland promised to broach the issue of housing numbers with him.

“It’s very easy to criticise the Prime Minister, but he’s a busy guy, there’s one of him.

“We’ve got the best part of 60 million people in the UK or wanting something or needing something. So, you know, not everything gets to the Prime Minister, because of course, he’s got staff. He’s got ministers. He’s got teams around him doing that for him.

“I have no doubt at all that if I was to get a chance to speak to him personally about house building and targets in the south of England, he would listen.”

Would Mr Sunderland be prepared to invite Boris Johnson to the borough to see the issues first hand? “Yes, 100% I’ll do that,” he promises.

Mr Sunderland added: “Don’t forget, he’s also promised to level up the country.

“He’s under pressure to do what he can for those who can’t afford a house at the moment. This is the most aggressive, ambitious house building programme of any governor for decades.

“He needs to do what he can to fulfil his promises.

“So what’s my point? I think my point is that we do need to be building more houses, but not necessarily in this part of the world.

“And if we’re serious about levelling up across the country, let’s invest across the country. Let’s invest in infrastructure, let’s invest in jobs.

“You know, let’s do what we can for those people across the UK, who don’t have access to employment, who do need places to live.

“Let’s just not pander to speculative developers in the south east who know that they’re going to make good money and are building more houses – let’s actually spread the love across the whole of the UK and do what we can for those who put Boris Johnson in power.”