Maiden Speech
James was elected to Parliament in 1997 with a majority of 3,475. He made his maiden speech on 11th June 1997, in which he spoke of North Wiltshire's largest town of Chippenham, and of his sadness at the massacre in his childhood home town of Dunblane. Click here to read that first speech in full. His current majority is 5,303.

Speeches, Questions & Early Day Motions
James tries to say something every day in the Chamber and has recently raised a variety of different issues, ranging from the planned closure of RAF Lyneham and the closure of Post Offices in North Wiltshire, to gypsy encampments, to issues affecting the armed forces, and the future of healthcare in North Wiltshire. Please click here to see all his recent speeches and questions to Ministers in the House of Commons during the 2009-10 session and click here to see all his contributions from the 2008-09 session. Click here to see which Early Day Motions he has signed during the current 2009-10 session, and here to see the EDMs he signed in the 2008-09 session.

National & International Security Policy Group
One of James' particular interests is Defence and Foreign Affairs. He founded the All Party Group for the Army in 2004 and was the sitting MP on David Cameron's policy group for National and International Security, chaired by Dame Pauline Neville-Jones (2006-07) The Group have published their seminal report, An Unquiet World, which you can see by clicking here.

DEFRA Committee
In 2007, James was appointed to the DEFRA (Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) Select Committee, which meets several times a week to discuss such current issues as reforming the Common Agricultural Policy, how to better the nation's flood defences and Climate Change. To find out more about the work of the Committee, please click here.