Fifteen year old Malmesbury Secondary pupil and Hullavington resident, Luke Dicker, is a remarkable person by any standards. When you meet him, he will hand you his business card which reads “ Luke Dicker, Aspergers and ADHD sufferer.” And Luke and his family and friends often do “suffer” from some aspects of his autism. Luke can be hyper-active, appear rude, use language which he would be the first to admit can be “ a little inappropriate,” and in a whole host of ways infuriate his nearest and dearest. But leaving all of that on one side, he is the most wonderful fellow in so many other ways. His clear-thinking readiness to talk openly and straightforwardly about his own condition is thoroughly refreshing, and should, he hopes, be a help to others with similar conditions but who are less coherent and outspoken. And his and his  family’s readiness to talk about the trials and tribulations- and the joys – of being and living with Luke – are what led to his mother, Jan Greenman (who is married to District Councillor Howard Greenman, and so part of the myriad clan of Greenpersons spread around my constituency) to write a book about it all.

“Life at the Edge,” its called, “ Living with ADHD and Apergers Syndrome, The true Story of Luke’s Life with Labels,” and it’s an astonishing and moving book in every way, chronicling their journey through the wonderful world of Luke. I was proud to write a forward to it, and to play a part in its launch at Hullavington Village Hall last Friday, and I know that Jan would be glad to sell a copy of it to any who might have an interest in living with autism. She can be contacted on 01666-838806.

But Luke also spent a couple of days work shadowing me last week. He had a day in Westminster with me, touring Parliament, attending Prime Minister’s Question Time, enjoying a drink on the Terrace, attending a lobby by Papyrus, the excellent anti-suicide organisation, sitting through four hours of David Miliband giving evidence to the Environment Select Committee on the forthcoming Climate Change Bill. I had a little trouble keeping my eyes open at one stage, so that was no small achievement for someone with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder! Then on Friday, amongst other things, he and I visited Leigh Delamere Service Station. Luke was well-mannered, interested, amusing, sensible throughout the two days, I think much to his Mother’s and even to his own surprise!

But then I should have known he was a remarkable young men when ten years ago, at the age of five, he personally designed some election posters for me, when he and his family came for a tour of the Palace of Westminster, and he went out of his way to lobby me on the shortage of play facilities in Hullavington, and insisted that I should visit the Parish Council to fight for more of them. Luke is a power to be reckoned with, and an example to us all of what we can do to overcome really quite serious disadvantages in life and focus on putting something back. I salute Luke Dicker and his family for all that they are and do, and hope that you will all enjoy Life at the Edge as much as I did.

Sunday. Return from a weekend in Paris attending Council of Europe Committees. Good to see the Russians, Ukrainians and other “non-Europeans” there. The army has announced that Prince Harry is not after all to go to Iraq. I feel deeply sorry for him, but am sure it is the right decision. It would be wrong to endanger his minders and fellow soldiers to allow Royal bravado.

Monday. To Wiltshire to see Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall open wonderful Wilts Wildlife Trust Lower Moor Farm Nature Reserve near Oaksey.

Tuesday. Show constituents from Corsham round the Palace and enjoy a drink on the Terrace with them. Speak without notes for 25 minutes in debate on Parliament’s right to a vote on going to war. Am persuaded by outstanding speeches from Ken Clarke and Jack Straw to change my mind and vote to end centuries of “Royal Prerogative.” Gordon Brown, who is effectively unopposed as our new PM disagreed with Tony Blair on this one. Only two weeks ago, Blair’s friend the Lord Chancellor said it was impossible. Now we have a Government motion agreeing with William Hague and abolishing it.

Wednesday. Another tour then a drink with European environment committee visiting Parliament before a hilarious PMQs taken by John Prescott who is demob happy. Defra Select Committee to discuss Climate Change Bill, tea with constituents, votes which fail to stop the ridiculous Housing Information Packs which the Government seems determined to introduce from 1 June, then its off to the 1922 Committee to see David Willets given a harder time that I have ever witnessed over his ridiculous remarks about grammar schools. I am a product of one, and strongly support the principle. Hard to see how Willets can survive the collective wrath of 200 Conservative MPs.

Thursday. Vast piles of paper to wade through after a week’s neglect.

Friday. HM Queen completes rather a Royal week for me by presenting new colours to my Regiment, the Honourable Artillery Company with a truly superb parade. She does it every 25 years or so, this being her astonishing third time. Miss the debate over Freedom of Information as a result. Quite glad really. I sympathise with David Maclean’s aim of safeguarding privacy of an MP’s dealings with constituents, but realise what a media and public storm he will face over what seems to be a misconception that he is seeking to cover up details of our expenses. Resulting Mail on Sunday story about quad bike paid for from public funds  seems particularly hard. Poor man has quite advanced multiple sclerosis, and quad bike necessary to get around his vast rural constituency.

Saturday. Busy surgeries in Chippenham and Corsham followed by a visit to the wonderful Jubilee Lake in Wootton Bassett, and a tour of the many environmental stands at the exhibition. Chats to perhaps as many as 100 constituents on wide variety of topics seems to astonish my Forest Festival host. Actually a very useful way of keeping up to date with Bassett opinion.

Phew! What a week!

The next seven weeks will be a nightmare for Mr Blair and for the country. How can he pretend to be Prime Minister as his remaining time dwindles away? How can he continue to answer questions in Parliament about his plans for the future? I suspect that he will now embark on a world tour promoting his achievements, trying to secure his legacy, and paving the way for a lucrative future on the lecture circuit and in business.

To be fair to him, he does have some achievements to his name. What looks like a final peace in Northern Ireland happened during  his watch, although many would argue that the foundations for it were laid – rather like the comparatively stable economy we have enjoyed for ten years – by the preceding Conservative Government under the rather under-rated Mr Major. However, leaving Northern Ireland and the economy on one side for a moment, will he not be mainly remembered for “spin” and sidelining Parliament, for politicising the civil service and centralising power in No10, and above all for the demonstrable shambles which he is leaving behind him in Iraq and the Middle East in general, and for the resulting terrorist threat which hangs over mainland Britain? Just as Eden is remembered for Suez, surely Blair will be remembered for Iraq.

It was Enoch Powell who so memorably opined that all political careers end in failure. But the vainglorious, foolish and ill thought through invasion of Iraq must rank as one of the greatest political failures of all time, and subsequent generations will curse Tony Blair for it. No amount of spin about his achievements will cover it up; no desperate attempt by Mr Brown to distance himself will mean that the people forget that he too was fully complicit. As we look back over ten years, spin, deceit and Iraq blot out any other transient achievements.

So I wish Mr  Blair well on a personal level. He has lost his youth and vigour doing what he believed to be right. But I do not believe that the people will tolerate either of two things which I believe now to be imminent. Mr Brown looks set to be trying to distance himself from the Blair years, which he must not be allowed to do. And if Mr Blair attempts any kind of reinvention of himself or reinterpretation of his years in Government when he launches himself onto the directorships, lectures and books which will doubtless come his way, then the nauseated people will commit his party to the political history books in much the way that they did at the ballot box two weeks ago today. Mr Blair’s premiership has been an abject failure, for that reason if none other, and he must not be allowed to forget it. Nor must our decent human instinct of respect for a a retiring politician lead us to let him do so.

But I hope that you will be ready to excuse me just a touch of quiet satisfaction at the 900 or so seats which we Conservatives won from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats making my Party substantially larger both in terms of councillors and councils controlled than those two parties put together. And here in North Wiltshire, I well remember the time, around our (probably largely justifiable) expulsion from Government in 1997 when we had no more than a handful of District and County and Town Council seats, and controlled nothing at all. We were amongst the least popular of political parties. How pleasant, by contrast, to represent the most popular party in the land, and to feel part of an incoming tide.

In Wootton Bassett, for example, when I was elected to parliament in 1997, we held just two town council seats, with all four (as it was then) district council seats, and both county council seats being represented by Liberal Democrats. So I was glad to enjoy a superb Chinese dinner at the excellent Jade Dragon in Wootton Bassett on Saturday night to celebrate a clean sweep in the town. We Conservatives now hold both County Council seats, all five District Council seats and all sixteen town council seats. And we can claim a similar, if not quite so monopolistic  picture elsewhere across the constituency. There are places like Cricklade, for example, where we have our first Conservative district councillor for a generation. And we convincingly saw off both BNP and UKIP across the patch.

But while I may be excused a moment of satisfaction over these outstanding results; and while I congratulate all of my colleagues on their immensely hard work campaigning which duly paid off, I nonetheless pay tribute both to those excellent, hard working and long-term councillors who may well have lost their seats through really no fault of their own – like the two Liberal Democrat councillors for Wootton Bassett, for example. And I feel for some excellent candidates – Calne, Cricklade and Colerne spring to mind – who were just pipped at the post despite their every effort. It’s a tough business politics.

Leisure Centres, parking charges, public toilets, Council Tax – these were the key issues in the landslide. Councillor Dick Tonge and his excellent team will have their hands full trying to find ways to sort out the mess. I have every confidence that they will do. And all of that is without having to face the reorganisation and upheaval inherent in the current proposal to move to a Unitary authority for the whole of Wiltshire to which the Government may or may not give its approval in July. I will return to that hot topic in the weeks to come. At least my party can face these difficult tasks in the sure and certain knowledge that they have the full confidence of the electorate. Rarely have I seen a stronger mandate for radical reform. I know that they will set about that task with relish.

There were three pronouncements on Friday - opening the new Conservative Offices in Pewsham with Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, the Conservative candidate for the new Chippenham constituency and my colleague Michael Ancram, MP for Devizes. The three Conservative associations are combining in a spanking new campaign headquarters. Then I addressed the Bath Ladies Luncheon club and spoke at the North Wiltshire Business Association dinner in Castle Coombe that evening. Saturday saw me give an impromptu tribute to outgoing Chippenham mayor, Mrs Maureen Lloyd, who has done such a fine job representing the town.

Speeches vary in their effectiveness, but even those on national or international matters are greatly added to by local examples and there’s no way of picking up examples of that kind without being out and about on the ground. So I was glad to do some campaigning in Monkton Park in Chippenham, in Colerne, in Purton, and in Wootton Bassett over the weekend. It’s amazing how much flavour you can pick up of local thinking in a few hours on the doorstep!

Voters across North Wiltshire will be going to the polls today to decide who will form the administration of North Wiltshire District Council for the next four years. Whichever party has that onerous duty can be certain that I will continue using my voice and my pen to raise local issues in that way. It would be wrong to use this column to try to influence the way you vote, but I just very much hope that every single one of you will make use of the right to vote, a right which people round the world are losing their lives to achieve.