Super Saturday’ as it was billed, turned out to be more of a frustration than anything else, given the Meaningful Vote did not occur. I voted against the Letwin amendment because I felt it was important to progress with the vote on the deal as soon as possible. I would have been content to have sat through the night, indeed the whole weekend should it have been necessary. I had hoped to vote in favour of moving on to the next stage of negotiations, with a deal in place.

As some will already know I was admitted to hospital for surgery at short notice this week, which has taken longer to recover from than I had anticipated. Consequently, I have been “paired” by the Government Chief Whip, and have not been voting in Westminster.

I am enormously grateful to those who looked after me at Southampton General Hospital, who were outstanding in every respect. Our NHS is the envy of the world, and although I am not a big user of it, my goodness I was grateful at the way it sprang into action over the last week or so.

At the time of writing it is unclear as to what happens next with brexit. I very much hope a way forward can be reached between the Government and opposition to ensure only a very short extension is necessary to allow passage of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. I remain happy to sit for as long as is needed in the coming weeks to scrutinise the Bill, but hope an agreement can be reached quickly in the national interest.

It is clear there is support for this deal, it is also clear the House wants more time to scrutinise it, so let’s get on with it and complete this first stage of the brexit process. “