On Thursday, got text from office saying that the emergency surgery I was to have held this morning is unnecessary as only one person needs to ‘see’ me before Christmas and he is happy to talk on the phone – which I do. And having listened to a very long and complicated benefits (or lack of them) history – he tells me he has a file a mile thick. We arrange to meet early in the New Year to go through the history in more detail. So without surgery I continue to try and get my paperwork etc up to date for the break – but still the mountain stares relentlessly and resentfully at me!

Run into constituency office to sign last casework letters to make sure they get out and hopefully arrive before Christmas. Though you can’t really be sure at this point of the year! Have a chat with all at the office. They are a an absolute A team in terms of quality and quantity of work they get through – and more than that – really committed to serving the public which matters more than anything in this sort of office – and even more than that – a really nice group who all get on with each other.

Ed is my diary secretary and caseworker and runs the everyday stuff at the office as well as my assistant at surgery half the time. He has turned out to be an absolute star – and cares passionately about all of it.

Thuranie is a part-time caseworker and has been with me for five years now – since I first got elected to the London Assembly and could no longer cope on my own with the volume of casework when she used to come to my house one day a week. She has the most wonderful way with people and endless patience.

Charlie works almost exclusively on immigration casework as well as being my assistant at surgery the other half of the time. He now knows the ins and outs of the Home Office (who have to be the worst and most inefficient organisation known to man).

I have an intern, Angela, who is learning and gaining experience with the office. Hopefully when she has got some experience on her CV she will go on to get the job she wants.

And the last person in the local office part of the time, split between working in the constituency and in Parliament, is Andrew who is my Head of Office. Andrew just knows everything – knows how Parliament works, how constituencies offices need to be run – and has the patience of a saint.

At the parliamentary end – I have Mette. Mette is Swedish and just full of energy and enthusiasm – and loves doing ‘amendments’, Mette not only runs the office administration at the Parliamentary end, helps with PQs (Parliamentary Questions) etc – but has to work out the amendments to any Bill that I am taking through committee. She has a brood of interns – no more than one or two at a time (as they come and go according to gap year arrangements or whatever) – to help her with the sack loads of correspondence that arrives – up to 400 letters a day at times. The correspondence is opened, sorted and directed to appropriate place to be worked on – whether that end or constituency end.

The only real ‘rule’ in the offices is that ‘the customer is always right’. I know it’s old-fashioned (and there are some real challenges on occasion to that philosophy) but it’s the way I was brought up and whilst none of us are 100% – the ethos is there and to me it is important that my office reflects my philosophy – which is being there to serve.