INTE RVIEW
Meet Alicia Kearns, the new MP for Rutland and Melton Kate Maxim catches up with Rutland’s new MP
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ongratulations on your appointment as MP for Rutland and Melton. I imagine you’re thrilled with the result. Before we talk about your plans for the county, what drew you to this constituency? The best men at our wedding both came from around here: one from Loughborough and the other from Market Harborough and we used to all meet up in Rutland with our families and friends. Who wouldn’t want to spend their time here? We have wonderful memories of the area, and when we visited in September we were saying to ourselves, can
you imagine if Sir Alan resigned and I was asked to be Conservative parliamentary candidate? I said it’s not on the cards, he’s never going to retire, but it would be the dream. And here I am. It’s a wonderful place, utterly beautiful with wonderful people, and it’s very much a dream come true. Will you move to Rutland? We already have. I live in Langham with my husband John and our son. I said I’d move here within a week if I became the parliamentary candidate so here I am. My husband is a geographer, a keen cyclist and
very supportive. He loves Rutland Water and we really want our son to grow up in the countryside as both of us did, being able to play outdoors in a beautiful area. Sir Alan Duncan will still live in Rutland, will that be a problem at all? No, he’s a lovely man and has been very supportive and I’m really pleased he’s staying in the constituency. Previously you were a counter terrorism expert. What exactly did that entail? I worked for NATO, the US government, the
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