HAROLD Wilson’s quip that a week is a long time in politics has never felt truer than the past seven days. Following the failure to secure a consensus among Conservative MPs behind the EU Withdrawal Agreement, the Prime Minister bowed to the inevitable last Friday, announcing her resignation from outside Downing Street. The inability to deliver Brexit then claimed further victims on Sunday evening as the results of the European parliamentary elections were announced.

As my inbox can attest, the Prime Minister’s approach to Brexit was not universally loved. Brexiteers felt that it did not deliver the clean break from the EU that the country had voted for, while Remainers argued that public opinion had moved on and Brexit itself should be cancelled or at least put to a second referendum. However, I am of the view that the Prime Minister did her very best under extremely difficult circumstances to broker a compromise that had a chance of securing the backing of a majority of MPs.

The Conservative Party now needs to choose a new leader and a new strategy to deliver Brexit. Given the present arithmetic in the House of Commons, this will not be an easy task. But we cannot expect to keep trying the same approach with the same personnel and expect the result to be different. We need a new leader with a fresh vision to implement Brexit and help unite the country, so we can implement the referendum result and put these years of severe polarisation behind us.

On Monday, Sajid Javid announced that he was running for the leadership of the party, and I quickly confirmed that I was supporting his campaign. Having known him for almost 25 years, I believe that the home secretary has the skills and experience – from both the business and political worlds – necessary for the job. He also has an inspirational back story that sends a powerful message that anyone, regardless of their ethnicity or how modest their upbringing can make it to the summit of British politics.

Turning to local issues, I have written this week to Highways England requesting a meeting to discuss what can be done to alleviate congestion in Salisbury on Southampton Road, College Roundabout and the A36. Over the past two years, I have been pushing for this issue to be prioritised but been disappointed so far with the rate of progress. I appreciate it is a challenging situation given the geography and close proximity of the river and local businesses, but we must find a solution.