Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski building links with his Polish homeland
Sitting in a cafe in downtown Warsaw, the boom of businesses, buzz of people and noise of buses and cars provided the backdrop to a lively, vibrant, growing European capital city.
And it signified a city a world away from when Polish-born Shropshire MP Daniel Kawczynski revisited his home town in 1983 – the first time he had gone back to the country he left as a seven-year-old with his parents in 1978.
Now, just more than 30 years later, Mr Kawczynski was bringing his eight-year-old daughter Alexis to his homeland for the first time – a moment he described as "poignant and emotional".
Shropshire MP Daniel Kawczysnki has urged voters to "think very, very carefully" before making their mind up about the forthcoming EU referendum.
A referendum on Britain's European Union membership will be held by the end of 2017 and the Conservative Shrewsbury MP has described it as a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.
Mr Kawczynski refused to be drawn on how he would vote but said he hopes the country would vote to stay in following Mr Cameron's renegotiation of the UK's relationship with Europe.
Speaking in Warsaw, he said: "I have reached an agreement with the Conservative Association in Shrewsbury that we will wait to see what the outcome is of the renegotiation before deciding collectively as a party in Shrewsbury how we are going to be campaigning. There are many differing views about Europe within the Conservative Party as well as throughout the country but for me personally and instinctively I very much hope that the renegotiation will be sufficient to convince many in my party and in the country to vote to remain in."
Pushed on how he would vote in the referendum, he said: "It would be a little bit premature now to definitively give an answer on how I will vote when we don't yet know what the outcome of the renegotiation is. If it is the case, as has been reported, that the renegotiation could be finalised by December with a referendum next June, then we will need to start very quickly campaigning and finding out what the terms are of the renegotiation because it will be soon upon us."
Mr Kawczynski, who is the Prime Minister's special advisor on central and eastern Europe and helps build relationships between British and Polish politicians and businesses, said he believed trade would continue between those two countries no matter what the outcome of the referendum.
His message to Salopian voters was to "think very, very carefully" before casting their votes.
