Some weeks can be pretty exhausting and last week was one of them. Who in Government thought it would be a good idea to debate the Finance Bill in the week we have local elections and a Referendum on AV?

On Tuesday night we were kept debating until almost 4am, mainly by a few Labour MPs who wanted to keep the Government up all night.

One of the quaint practices in the Commons is that Finance Bills can be debated until any hour, so it's an opportunity for opposition parties to irritate and annoy Governments. Which they do with enormous pleasure!

The local elections went pretty well for Reading East, with the Conservatives easily topping the poll and winning seats in Woodley/Earley that were lost last year.

Sadly, we lost two seats in Reading, in Park and Church wards. We lost an excellent councillor in Wazir Hussain, but we will learn the lessons and come back fighting strongly.

Leading the local 'No to AV' campaign was quite a challenge, but Reading like most areas across the country didn't want to change a voting system that is tried and tested.

The Yes Campaign simply didn't make a compelling case for change - waffling on about 'a new kind of politics' simply didn't cut the mustard. People wanted to understand what it actually meant in practice and there was no answer.

The AV Referendum has damaged goodwill in the national Coalition, but not yet to the point where it will fall apart. The Liberal Democrats do not want a General Election election for a few years, so pulling out at the moment is not an option.

I think it would be fair to say that they are finding it hard to adapt from a party of protest to a party of government. After the knackering late nights in the Commons, I think Conservative MPs should be able to understand the part about adapting to Government!