Witnessing the election of new MPs you almost feel as if you are watching gladiators traipsing into the Colosseum, although admittedly we the audience anticipate a rather more civilised battle will commence. Morituri te salutant does not ring out in the Westminster estate on day one, but there is unmistakeable pomp and grandeur as MPs again pledge allegiance to the Queen. Some 140 MPs have now entered the parliamentary fray for the first time, and over the following pages we reveal our Top 25 selection of the best new MPs. We have no doubt that many of them will have lofty ambitions: some, no doubt, have aspirations to be the next Gladstone, Attlee or Thatcher, but where to begin? In these pages, Brooks Newmark, the former minister for civil society and MP for Braintree from 2005 to 2015, offers some advice about how to make a success of your early days in the House of Commons in a crowded field. We look forward to seeing who follows Brooks’s advice with interest – and to hearing some ...