THE new MP for Devizes made one of her first public appearances since being elected, at a windmill near Great Bedwyn on Saturday.
Conservative MP Claire Perry opened the Victorian Food Fayre at the Wilton Windmill, which included a cookery demonstration by the television chef and presenter of the ITV programme Countrywise, Mike Robinson.
Mrs Perry said that her first few days in the job had been “extraordinary.”
She added that after she was elected to represent the constituency, which includes villages near Hungerford, such as the Bedwyns, Ramsbury, Aldbourne, Chilton Foliat and Baydon, she had not slept for 36 hours.
“I was sitting in George Osborne’s office when I saw David Cameron going into 10 Downing Street,” she said. “It was a really historic moment.”
She added that she was happy with the way her party had formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, as a minority Government would not have worked - “We would have fallen at the first piece of legislation.”
Although she will not get her own office there for another month, Mrs Perry has been shown round the House of Commons with the 200 other new MPs and said that it was awe-inspiring.
“As much as it’s lovely to be going down these ancient corridors, though, there’s a huge job to be done and I’m getting on with it.”
She said that she was already busy working on a few individual cases brought to her by constituents and had spoken to the new health secretary, Andrew Lansley, about the need for a minor injuries unit in the constituency.
However, she found time for a tour of the windmill on Saturday, as well as helping one of the women’s tug-of-war teams to beat the men and trying toast made with flour from the mill.
"It is incredibly exciting to be here and I encourage everyone to buy the Wilton Windmill flour, milled from locally grown wheat,” she said. The secretary of the Wilton Windmill Society, Susie Brew, said: “We had about 600 people through the gates and everybody enjoyed Mike Robinson’s demonstration and eating all his food.
“We usually have a big event like this once a year. We get a lot of people who have never been to the windmill before and a lot who are returning.”