BEVERLEY & HOLDERNESS – Summer is drawing to a close, Parliament is back and our local council chambers are returning. So it’s time to bring Beverley Review’s summer political series to an end.
Over the past few months we’ve spoken to political figures from across Hull and the East Riding, and from across the political spectrum. We deliberately kept the politics itself to one side. There will be no shortage of elections, debates, disagreements and council meetings for us to report during the rest of the year and definitely next year!
Instead, we wanted to look at another side of public life: what our representatives actually do while the main political calendar quietens down, what they love about the places they represent and a light-hearted look at which five records provide the soundtrack to their summer.
There could hardly be a more appropriate person with whom to finish than Graham Stuart.
Graham has represented Beverley and Holderness in Parliament since 2005, giving him more than two decades as our local MP and making him one of the most experienced political figures in East Yorkshire.
During those years his career has extended considerably beyond the constituency. He chaired the House of Commons Education Select Committee, served as a government whip and went on to hold a succession of ministerial positions.
His ministerial career has included responsibility for investment and exports at the Department for International Trade, a period at the Foreign Office and senior ministerial responsibility for energy security and net zero.
Those roles have taken an MP from Beverley and Holderness onto the international stage, representing the UK in discussions about trade, investment, energy and climate change, while throughout that career he has continued to represent the same East Yorkshire constituency that first sent him to Westminster in 2005.
So, for our final summer conversation, we brought Graham back home.
What’s been on your plate this summer?
When Graham originally answered our questions, Parliament was still in its summer recess.
That ended on 1 September and MPs are now back at Westminster, but Graham spent much of his parliamentary summer back in Beverley and Holderness, holding Street Surgeries and speaking directly to residents.
“My work is based on listening to people, and the summer is a great time to do that,” he says. “I’ve been doing a lot of listening this summer.”
That took him across the constituency.
In Keyingham, residents raised longstanding concerns about flooding and sewage. Graham and Cllr Sean McMaster subsequently brought Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and East Riding Council together, with the agencies agreeing a joined-up programme of action.
“My work is based on listening to people, and the summer is a great time to do that,” he says. “I’ve been doing a lot of listening this summer.”
In Preston, Graham walked the historic Nun’s Walk with residents concerned about proposals to divert part of the route.
Around Walkington and the villages surrounding Beverley, the scale of proposed solar development has been another significant issue.
Transport has also featured heavily in his conversations, particularly in the rural parts of Beverley and Holderness.
“That’s brought home just how important the car is in a rural area like ours, but also how isolated people can become when buses and other connections don’t work,” he says.
For Graham, getting out into communities provides something that correspondence and briefings cannot always replicate.
“You can learn far more from a conversation on someone’s doorstep than you can sitting behind a desk in Westminster.”
There have been some tangible results from issues he has pursued.
Three acknowledged problems with its mobile coverage in Aldbrough after residents raised concerns through Graham, while Coastguard Rescue Officers won a reprieve from proposed changes which would have removed payments for call-outs, training and operational duties.
Graham had backed the campaign and repeatedly raised the issue in Parliament before the proposed changes were dropped.
“Listening only matters if you act on what people tell you,” he says.
When he originally spoke to Beverley Review, Graham said he wanted the issues he raised when Parliament returned to come from conversations he had been having on doorsteps at home.
Parliament is now back, and those summer conversations have followed him from the constituency back to Westminster.
What’s on your playlist this?
This has become one of our favourite questions of the series, largely because there has been almost no possibility of predicting the answers.
Graham certainly doesn’t disappoint.
Mungo Jerry’s Summertime gets things underway in appropriately seasonal fashion.
Then things take a turn.
Bad Religion’s Punk Rock Song is followed by The Cramps’ I Was a Teenage Werewolf, before Stan Getz and The Girl from Ipanema changes the atmosphere rather dramatically.
Primal Scream’s Movin’ on Up completes the five.
Mungo Jerry, American punk, The Cramps, bossa nova and Primal Scream. Make of that what you will.
After more than 20 years representing Beverley and Holderness, we thought we knew Graham reasonably well. Apparently there were still a few things left to discover.
Graham’s summer five:
- Mungo Jerry – Summertime
- Bad Religion – Punk Rock Song
- The Cramps – I Was a Teenage Werewolf
- Stan Getz – The Girl from Ipanema
- Primal Scream – Movin’ on Up
Why is Beverley and Holderness so wonderful in the summer?
“Beverley & Holderness is attractive all year round but comes into its own in the summer,” Graham says.
His tour begins very close to home with Beverley Westwood.
“Golfers, walkers and racegoers alike love Beverley Westwood whether for a sun-kissed round, gentle stroll or exciting Ladies Day fun.”
From Beverley, he heads east towards one of the constituency’s most remarkable landscapes.
At Spurn, Graham picks out little terns, migrating swifts and waders alongside porpoises, seals and even the possibility of spotting minke whales.
Back on land there are red-veined darters, wildflowers, pyramidal orchids and the considerably less familiar suffocated clover.
For anyone visiting, he recommends beginning at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Discovery Centre and taking in the 128-foot Spurn Lighthouse, with its views across the Humber and North Sea.
Then comes Withernsea.
“Withernsea in summer is not to be missed,” he says.
Alongside the beach, Graham highlights the beach huts, independent businesses around Valley Gardens and the Thursday bike nights at the Castle Café.
His recommendation for exploring the constituency extends to two wheels, taking in places such as Hedon and Patrington and the medieval churches scattered throughout the villages.
And after all that cycling, Graham offers perhaps the least controversial political proposition of the entire series.
“Sitting outside village pubs or town cafes make life in summer the very best.”
Beverley Review is prepared to offer its full editorial endorsement.
And that brings our summer series to a close
We began this series because the summer recess can create the impression that politics itself has stopped.
It hasn’t.
Parliament returned on 1 September, but the weeks away from Westminster give MPs considerably more time in their constituencies. The same applies to councillors when the formal schedule of meetings becomes lighter.
Over the summer, Beverley Review has deliberately heard from different parties and different levels of public life across Beverley, Hull and the East Riding.
We began with Cllr Anne Handley, Leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, before spending a very busy summer with Cllr Cheryl Giles, Mayor of Beverley.
We heard from Cllr Denis Healy, Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition at East Riding Council and travelled down the road to Hull to speak with Cllr Mike Ross, Leader of Hull City Council.
We looked at the rather different civic responsibilities of Cllr Linda Johnson, Chairman of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, before hearing from Cllr John Dimberline, Leader of the Reform UK group at East Riding Council.
And finally, we finish where Beverley and Holderness is represented nationally, with Graham Stuart MP.
Across those conversations we have heard about casework, community projects, flooding, transport, businesses, museums, festivals and the everyday work of representing people.
We’ve also discovered a surprisingly eclectic collection of record libraries.
The point of the series has been simple. Beverley Review covers local politics independently and that means hearing from people across the political spectrum. There will be plenty of opportunities during the rest of the year to scrutinise decisions, report disagreements and ask difficult questions. Over the summer, we wanted to give some of the people doing these jobs an opportunity to talk about their communities and themselves.
Finishing with Graham Stuart feels particularly appropriate.
For more than 20 years, Beverley and Holderness has been represented at Westminster by the same MP. During that time Graham has progressed from a newly elected backbencher to committee chairman, government whip and minister, representing the UK internationally on trade, investment, energy and climate change while continuing to return home to the towns, villages and coastline of East Yorkshire.
Whatever one’s politics, more than two decades of public service deserves recognition.
And after an entire summer of asking our politicians about the music they listen to when nobody is debating motions, examining budgets or arguing across a council chamber, perhaps the biggest revelation has been saved until last.
Graham Stuart listens to The Cramps. We didn’t see that one coming.
Image credits: Graham Stuart MP