Former Carlisle MP John Stevenson reflects on the last 14 years

Last week's General Election saw Mr Stevenson lose his seat to the Labour Party's Julie Minns after 14 years as Carlisle's representative on the national stage. 

It was a wipeout across Cumbria for the Conservative Party which lost all four of its MPs. This was a result of the national picture, in Mr Stevenson's opinion.

"I think we were completely overshadowed by national politics, to be perfectly honest," he said.

"I think, locally, I fought as good a campaign as previous years as did my colleagues, but I think we were completely overshadowed by what was happening nationally."

Mr Stevenson first won the seat in 2010 from the Labour Party which had held the constituency for more than 40 years.

This, alongside his re-election in the 2015 General Election, is one of his greatest achievements. 

But, he's also proud of establishing the annual skills fair as it "was of direct benefit to people who live and work locally" and of the investment that has come into the city. 

"When I first got elected, I remember George Osborne asking me what investment was in the pipeline, and there was basically none," he reflected.

"Well, now there's a huge amount already happening and an awful lot that is coming in the pipeline, which I think will help transform Carlisle over the next three or four years in a very positive way.

"I'm delighted for our city."

Among the almost 1500 votes Mr Stevenson cast over the years, more often than not, he voted in line with the government, according to TheyWorkForYou.com.

But there were times when he would stray beyond the party line when he believed they were wrong and his voting record is something that he's comfortable with when looking back on it. 

Mr Stevenson said: "Overall, I'm quite comfortable with my voting record."

"You have to accept as a backbench MP that you can't constantly vote against your government because that undermines stable government.

"I think one of the critical ones, the Owen Paterson vote, I voted against the government, which I think was the start of the demise of Boris Johnson, funnily enough. But there was only 17 of us that did that."

Mr Stevenson served on the backbenches for his entire tenure as Carlisle's MP however he did serve as the chairman for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Food and Drink as well as holding a spot on several other key groups. 

His biggest regret is that he didn't push further to become a government minister, despite there being several roles that he would've liked to take on.

He said: "Probably not becoming a government minister, partly my own choice, partly my political views were slightly different from the leadership at critical times over the 14 years.

"That's probably my biggest regret, but I think I made a contribution in other ways.

"I think my biggest contribution, probably locally, in terms of trying to attract investment particularly the Garden village and the ring road, but also at the national level, being a member of the 1922 committee, select committee, chair of the NRG, which was the Northern Research Group of Conservative MP's, trying to emphasise the importance of the north."

The political landscape has changed significantly since Mr Stevenson was first elected in 2010.

The rise of social media has led to greater abuse of MPs with a BBC investigation finding that more than 3,000 abusive tweets are sent to politicians every day. 

This investigation followed the murder of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess in 2016 and 2021 respectively. 

"I think as a nation, we've become far more presidential, which I don't necessarily think is all good, particularly during election campaigns," said Mr Stevenson.

"And I think social media, unfortunately, has created a very dark side to politics, which is deeply unpleasant."

"I also think the people that write some of the comments should reflect on what they are doing, because they would not like it if it was done to them."