A December General Election would not be John Glen's preferred option but he wants to get Brexit done

This will be the first December election since 1923 and though it was not my preferred option, I recognise that it became inevitable when it was clear that Parliament would not pass the hard-won deal to deliver Brexit, despite an apparent willingness to back it in principle last week.

As many will know, I voted Remain in the June 2016 referendum but since then I have been committed to help deliver Brexit with an agreement that would allow the UK to leave the EU in an orderly fashion.

This would honour the narrow but clear majority in the constituency and country that voted to leave the institutions of the European Union in the referendum. There have been times in the past year where the passing of a deal seemed imminent but the lack of willingness to compromise has been frustrating.

My working week has involved usual rounds of lobbying ministers about various constituency matters – including speaking to the Police Minister about exploring changes to the law to deal with slingshots, as well as securing Barclays bank’s commitment to the Banking Framework with the Post Office.

I was pleased the chief executive of Barclays listened to the concerns I raised with him last week and maintained universal participation in allowing the Post Office to serve their customers’ needs. I also spoke to the Brexit and Beyond conference on the future of the City as well as the Hong Kong Trade and Investment Council.

In other news, I was delighted to hear this week that Salisbury District Hospital is one of 78 to receive a brand new scanner for use in cancer screening.

This will have to be my last column before the election as Parliament will be dissolved on Wednesday, November 6, after which I will become the Conservative Candidate.

I look forward to meeting many of you on the campaign trail in the coming five weeks and I wish my fellow candidates the very best in what I hope will be a clean and edifying election campaign.