30,000 soldiers - more than a third of the British Army - are based here in Wiltshire, many of them recently returned from Germany. I had a very productive meeting this month with Colonel Gary McDade, Army Commander South West, in Jellalabad Barracks in Tidworth, discussing the welfare of soldiers and, crucially, their families.

These days the Army likes its people to settle in one place rather than move around every few years, and the emphasis is now on integrating with the civilian population ‘outside the wire’.

Crucial to forces’ families wellbeing are having decent amenities, from broadband (not good at the Trenchard Lines camp near Upavon, I learned) to shops (we still need more at Tidworth; much envious comparison with Catterick, in the Yorkshire constituency of one R Sunak).

One military-civilian facility we can confidently boast of is the racecourse on MOD land at Larkhill, which was briefly threatened with closure earlier this month and then instantly - before I could even make representations myself - saved by the intervention of no less than Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary.

As a source told the Countryside Alliance, Ben ‘recognises that as custodian of the largest land holdings in the UK, the MOD has a duty to not only use the land to ensure our forces are best prepared but also that the local communities who have farmed or used the land for centuries are supported.’ Just so.

In Parliament this month I championed the county's rural economy. Wiltshire is the ideal of the old-new economy that we want: in parts local, sustainable and slow, but also dynamic, entrepreneurial and high-tech.

Indeed (as I facetiously pointed out in my speech) we have been a commercial mecca for 6,000 years, with artefacts in burial sites showing evidence of neolithic (pre-Brexit) continental trading; it’s no surprise that today we have some of the most cutting-edge firms in the world, creating technological miracles in agriculture, defence and cyber most of all.

To realise Wiltshire’s potential we badly need better broadband, better rural transport, more skills and more affordable housing and I will continue to work to achieve these improvements, to help our county flourish.