This month – August 2016 – is quite a special month for me. It marks the month that I have been a member of parliament longer than I spent as a candidate. I was first elected in May 2010, but I was chosen as the Wyre Forest Conservative association’s candidate in January 2004.

Political parties have a variety of ways of selecting their candidates for election. Conservatives require aspirant MPs to prove they are up to the job by passing a selection board, that then allows them to apply for vacant seats, such as Wyre Forest in 2004. Others will be grateful of anyone prepared to lose their £500 deposit for standing for election but failing to secure 5% of the vote. But representing the interests of the near 100,000 people who live in a constituency like Wyre Forest is an important job.

Spending 6 years as a candidate is no small undertaking. Some of my colleagues in Parliament spent over 10 years in target seats before being elected. Remember, being a candidate is not a paid job, yet it can, and frequently is, an all consuming occupation. There is no expense system so all out of pocket expenses are borne by the candidate. But it is an incredibly rewarding experience.

Public service is an important part of our society. It is a lazy and ignorant cliché that MPs are only in it for the money, or that they are out of touch. Of the 650 MPs that I work with, I have on just one or two occasions questioned the motivation of the individual. It is overwhelmingly the case that all politicians at every level do it for a love of their community and a keen desire to serve the communities that elect them to be their representative.

Spending years as a candidate embeds a future MP into the community in a way that few really see. This can be seen in Parliament, where MPs who were selected late in the electoral cycle, whilst being excellent parliamentarians, tend to focus on Westminster. Those who spent years before being elected working in their communities tend to focus more on their local issues.

Politics is a much maligned profession, yet no one has come up with a better way of ensuring people get a voice. Despite the criticism we all get, I know that I stand alongside most of my colleagues in saying that this is the best job I have ever done.