A Day in the Life - Out and about with Workington MP Mark Jenkinson

I have done many a story on Mark Jenkinson since I started my time at the paper, and asked him many a question about how he does his job. However, these questions are usually on the big issues of the day.

I decided to take some time to see what a normal day for the MP would look like, here in his seat of Workington. So one day in mid-December, I spent the day following him round in his trademark electric mini to find out what a typical day at home is like for Mr Jenkinson.

8:30AM Arrive at the office and start the day

As I arrive at the office, Mark has already been in for some time, signing letters and checking emails for his upcoming day. We sit down, have a cup of coffee and chat about what the day will hold for the MP alongside his office manager Hannah.

FUN: The MP was allowed to try out one of the createc robots

9.15AM VISIT TO PAR SYSTEMS

We visited PAR systems at Lillyhall to look at the work the company did within the local supply chain and further afield. Mark was taken on a tour of the base and visited various different workshops at the premises, including an inactive nuclear cell which enables people to train for jobs in the nuclear industry, and a look at some of the robotics from Cockermouth company Createc. Mark discussed the visions for the future of the company as well as looking at how they could be expanded in the next few years.

VISIT: The MP likes to go out on these kind of visits to understand local business

10.30AM SAT DOWN TO DO A Q&A WITH MARK

Would you say you have always had an interest in politics, talking as in from childhood? "No, not from childhood. So I came from two really strong Labour families, especially on Northside my grandma and grandad used to put boards out for Labour, but I didn't have an interest in politics until I was an adult and it was the 2005 David Cameron leadership election that is my first memory of being politically triggered. And then yes, my interest grew from there really. In about 2009 I joined the Conservatives.

What did you want to do as a child then? "So I wanted to be a vet, that's what I really wanted to be and the idea of continuing in education for that long really put me off that idea. But then I started working on a farm in my spare time, so I chose to go to Newton Rigg after school to do a hill farming diploma.

"Fortuitously, when I came home for summer, I got an apprenticeship at British Steel. I decided that maybe without owning a farm I was never going to be a millionaire from farming... so that saw off my farming career and I took a job as an apprentice electrician at British Steel."

Do you think you might still go on to be a vet or farmer in the future? (Laughs) No, I don't anticipate either. Well, I probably actually wouldn't mind a small holding if my livelihood didn't depend on it. I did keep chickens until a few years ago so I wouldn't mind having something like that but not if that was my only source of income.

So how did you get involved in the Conservative Party? "I got involved with a local group 10 or 11 years ago with the intention of getting Workington Hall back into use and that led me to meeting with Allerdale councillors and I just used to think: do you know what, I could do a better than you really, and that's what led me in.

"I was a member of the Conservative party from just before the 2010 election. I very nearly stood in the 2011 local elections; for whatever reason that didn't happen. I was first drawn to David Cameron by his Euroscepticism, my earliest political thought was about being Eurosceptic more than anything else so that 2005 election got me interested in the Conservative party because of David Cameron's Euroscepticism.

"By 2012 I am leaving the Conservative party to set up a branch of UKIP because David Cameron's Euroscepticism has disappeared and I want a referendum on Europe, so I stood and failed in a number of by-elections, stood in '15 and was elected.

INTEREST: Mark was impressed by the work of this firm

"So we got the referendum. I left UKIP after the 2015 election but didn't make it public. I wasn't keen on some of the aspects of the election campaign and after the referendum I came back to the Conservatives.

"So come summer '19 we started to talk about whether there would be an election, and I got talking to Trudy who said if there's an election who's Workington's candidate? And I said well I don't know ... and she persuaded me that it had to be me ... I then had to persuade Dawn, and by September I'm in London, then October I was selected by the party."

Where do you see yourself in the Conservative party? Do you see yourself as a centrist or more on the right? "I think many would like to paint me on the right because of my UKIP membership, but what you have to remember is the UKIP I joined in 2012 had the term libertarian in its constitution.

"Its focus wasn't as it became in 2015 - heavily on migration - because on migration I take what I consider a pragmatic libertarian view, that borders are just lines on a map... but we have to be pragmatic and say if we want an NHS that's free at the point of use etc. then that can't be open to the world."

So where do you see yourself within the party? "I certainly in some aspects sit on the libertarian right, but I consider myself socially liberal with some caveats - I think people should be free to do what they please within the confines of the law; it's of no business to the state.

"I find myself in different groups depending on what I am advocating for so it is difficult to pigeonhole that."

CHECK: The MP spends some of his quiter moments signing letters to constituents

What do you think is your biggest achievement as an MP? "I mean there are some big ones... we have successfully lobbied to include things that people necessarily wouldn't include in a town deal, for example the stadium.

"There's a number of small achievements as well, every single day. I have people who turn up in this office and literally have nowhere to stay that night... but I mean it's difficult to pin a single biggest achievement down."

What would you say is your biggest regret? "Even though no one had any control over it, it is the situation that we have found ourselves in with Covid and how that's delayed a lot of good stuff and, by sheer cost, may prevent some things in the future.

"We were just getting settled in when Covid hit as new MPs and I think it's knocked off a lot of what we would have done."

Do you think that when you were a child you ever thought you would be in Parliament? "No, but my chemistry teacher did, Mr Harris. He wrote in one of my school reports that I was a future agricultural minister and one of my old junior school teachers told the pastor at church that I was a wordsmith at 5."

Are there any dreams of Number 10? "I don't envisage that I will ever be putting myself up; for all the tea in China I wouldn't want his (Boris's) job right now.

"I certainly don't envisage that as a future option, but until you're presented with that option you can't rule anything out. But as it stands my aspirations are as high as being a good constituency MP."

What's Boris actually like? "He's sound, he's really intelligent, he's funny, he can really rouse a cheer and is fantastic at working a crowd. I don't think he likes to upset anybody which may be part of the problem - you can't say yes to everybody - but yeah he's good craic, he really is."

Who is your favourite member of the opposition? "I'm going to say Rosie Duffield because she has stuck her head above the parapet on women's rights in the face of huge opposition, even from her own party. She's in what I would call a left-wing seat so probably comes under a lot of public pressure - and yet she sticks to her principles."

FEEDBACK: Mark participates in a meeting on cultural strategy

11AM MEETING ON CULTURAL STRATEGY FOR WEST CUMBRIA

The MP had a meeting with external consultants on the upcoming cultural strategy for West Cumbria in light of the unitary takeover. He gave his ideas on culture in West Cumbria as well as advising on how he thinks the area's culture may be developed and enhanced in the near future.

12PM CASEWORK MEETING WITH A CONSTITUENT

Mark attended a meeting with Caroline Hamilton, who lives in the constituency and runs the Safety Assessment Federation. They looked at the problems that Brexit may cause to safety laws and regulation in Britain over the next few years and resolved a way of working on the issues to try and make a difference to Caroline's cause.

HELP: His team joined him to help out

1.30PM GROT SPOT CAMPAIGN WORK

The team at the office went out to help Mark tackle a particular 'grot spot' that had been bugging the MP for a number of months. Armed with a cleaning brush - and latterly a pressure washer - Mark and his office staff tackled the sign down by the Derwent Howe Industrial Estate, as well as picking up litter and cleaning the paths. I was even roped in to help with the job...

CLEAN: Mr Jenkinson spent the afternoon working to combat 'grot spots'

4PM LETTER SIGNING

Mark returned to the office and signed letters to constituents as well as sorting out hampers that were delivered to veterans in the following weeks, and other general admin tasks that he has to do as part of his day to day work.