Conservative approach reaps rewards for MP

There were a couple of young boys standing nearby from the Popley area. I said to them: 'Can you break into my car and get my keys out. I'll give you £5 if you can.'

They looked at me as if I was mad - but it only took them 10 seconds to get in and hand me my keys. Car security has improved a bit since then.

I had been to Basingstoke before - my father had retired to Winchester - but after I put my name forward for nomination I looked at it in a different light.

After being selected, I resigned my job teaching at Harrow School at Easter because I was confident of victory. I had been selected as the Conservative Party prospective parliamentary candidate in March and we knew an election was imminent.

I spent time driving around the town getting a good knowledge of the geography. You had the different estates that had been developed at much the same time but each with distinctive character. I got a very clear picture of the balance and composition of the town. How different it all was in 1983.

I can vividly remember that I thought Basingstoke was an exciting place. I had fought the 1979 general election in Southampton and I thought Southampton, in comparison with Basingstoke, was old and tired and going nowhere. But Basingstoke gave the impression of youth and energy and direction. I found it an intriguing balance.

There were marked differences between the various parts of the town, each with its own characteristics and views. I can remember to this day how excited I was by Basing View. It was a vibrant hive of activity. We didn't have the Chineham or Hampshire International business Parks then, but I was struck by the architecture. It looks a bit tired now - but then it was up to the minute.

I was impressed by Basingstoke - except for the shopping. I took an instant dislike to the old 'new town centre'. But Basing View was the focal point of the town's business and commerce.

There was a larger traditional manufacturing base than today with Lansing Bagnall (fork lift trucks), Smith's Industries (aircraft parts) and Eaton's (gear boxes) to the fore. There was a flourishing information technology sector - but it was much smaller than it is today.

Large parts of Chineham and Lychpit were still building sites. Hatch Warren was a place called Patterson's Farm and only far-sighted developers gave much thought to Beggarwood Lane.

I look back on the '80s with some nostalgia. On a personal level there were the enormous challenges of first becoming a Member of Parliament. To compensate, they were years of great family bonding and support from my wife Jan, who was also my secretary even though we had two young children.

Immediately after my selection I got caught up on local issues - one of the first I remember was a threat to close Fairfields School. It had a junior and an infant school. It was not closed but became an all-in primary.

There was the excitement of Basingstoke's development as a major centre of economic activity. Investment soared, attracted by the de-regulation of employment restrictions, low taxation and low non-wage costs of the Thatcher era.

Unemployment scarcely existed and the demand for new housing seemed insatiable. Overseas employers were particularly attracted to the UK.

About a month ago, I had a meeting with some of the larger employers in the town. They said they didn't think their parent companies would come to the town now.

So much of the attraction has been diminished in the last five or six years, mainly through increasing non-wage costs - a whole raft of insurance benefit type perks that have added to the cost of employing people with increased employers' contributions to this, that and the other.

The overseas firms I spoke to said they would not go from Basingstoke because it would cost them money to set up in another country - but they would not come now if they were not here already.

Basingstoke today is a transformed town but it has lost none of its excitement. The change has been evolutionary. By and large the strategists and planners have got it right.

As traditional manufacturing has continued to de-cline, there has been market-led provision for the emerging generation of wealth and job-creating enterprises. The IT sector has grown dramatically, so have financial services.

And the town has now got its much-needed shopping centre. Before Festival Place there was only one local blackspot - retailing. We lagged badly behind our competitor towns and cities.

Arts, leisure, recreational and sporting facilities have also been transformed. In 1983, the Haymarket was a beacon of excellence as it is today. But apart from the Westfield Lido, the town centre sports complex, an unappealing cinema and minimal other facilities, there was little else.

All that has changed. The Anvil - former council leader Stephen Reid's brainchild - has been the greatest single gift to Basingstoke. It has placed the town firmly on the cultural map and contributes enormously to changing perceptions of the town.

But negative influences have also been at work. They have touched every community in the country and Basingstoke is no exception. There is less civic awareness and less social responsibility. There is more crime, much of it fuelled by drug-taking - of which there should be zero tolerance. Today there is even greater fear of crime.

Successive Governments have undermined the value of the family. We are increasingly a valueless, de-Christianised society - and we are paying a heavy price for this.

I see Basingstoke's raison d'etre to be a centre of job and wealth creation. And on the future, prosperity of the town depends the prosperity of families in the area. I think I am broadly confident. I think there is a sound base of local economic activity. Most companies are doing reasonably well.

But at the risk of apparently contradicting myself, I would say it could all come unstuck if we can't retain our competitiveness as a country. Because, remorselessly, the world gets a smaller and smaller place, and unless the UK remains an attractive place to do business, business will not be done here. I am increasingly worried about red tape and the bureaucracy of the Euro-pean Union.

Although the prosperity of Basing-stoke is soundly based, we should take nothing for granted.

The continuing health and wealth of the town and the nation depend primarily on two inter-related factors - maintaining as much control over our national economy as global influences allow, and minimising external pressures which undermine our competitiveness.

In the short-term, this includes resisting the European monetary union and less regulation from Whitehall and Brussels.

It has been, and remains, an enormous privilege to be Member of Parliament for Basingstoke. One of the many fascinating aspects of my work is the panoramic view it has given me of the changing scenes of life in the town and surrounding villages over 20 years.

Everything may not be perfect, but, by and large, we should count ourselves fortunate to live and work in this part of the country."