'It is for others to assess whether I have helped make a difference or lived up to expectations' - MP bows out after 250,000 emails and letters
An MP who spent nearly 20 years of representing his south Shropshire constituency has said he is “tinged with nostalgia” now that he has stepped down.
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Philip Dunne, who served as the Member of Parliament for the Ludlow constituency from 2005 to 2024, announced earlier last year that he would not re-stand at the General Election on July 4.
Writing in the Bridgnorth Journal this week, the Conservative said that in the last 19 years, he had sent over 250,000 letters and emails to constituents and it had been a “profound honour” to have been the area's MP.
He said: “Looking back over the past two decades, I am tinged with nostalgia for the thousands of constituents I have met; for the hundreds of advice surgeries I have held regularly all across the constituency (other than during the pandemic), for many years in my old camper van which doubled as a mobile office.”
He added: “I have sent over 250,000 letters or emails to constituents who had been in touch with me on a specific issue.”
But he said: “It is for others to assess whether I have helped make a difference or lived up to expectations as your Member of Parliament. But it has been a profound honour to have served my home town of Ludlow and the beautiful area that is South Shropshire and the, by and large, wonderful people who live here.”
The departing MP, who seat is being contested on Thursday by Stuart Anderson MP (Conservative), Matthew Green (Lib Dem), Charles Shakerley-Bennett (Reform), Simon Thomson (Labour), and Hilary Wendt (Green), also had some advice for voters on Thursday.
He said: “As you choose my successor through the ballot box today, I offer one gentle word of advice: think carefully about the character of the person you vote for, since you may need to rely on them to fight your corner over the next five years.”
