CONSERVATIVE Michelle Donelan was this week learning the ropes at Westminster after winning the Chippenham seat with a resounding majority of more than 10,000 votes.

It is a vast turn around from the 2010 election when there was only a 2,470 vote difference between Liberal Democrat winner Duncan Hames and the Conservative candidate Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones.

Miss Donelan’s face was effervescent on hearing the wide margin in the announcement just after 3.30am on Friday. She told those at the Olympiad she would be keeping all the promises she had made. "It is actually the greatest honour of my life that the people of Chippenham have chosen me,” she said. “It is a dream come true.

"But the reality is, I am going to deliver and I am not going to let the people down. I am going to spend all of my time in Parliament ensuring that all of my constituents come first."

The 31-year-old, who is from Cheshire and now lives in The Paddocks, Chippenham, described Thursday night as a “fantastic experience for myself and the whole team.

“We’ve all been working very hard over the past two years, so to culminate in that was astonishing. It’s been such a slog and it’s paid off. It was an amazing result against a very strong incumbent.

“It means I have a real mandate. It is exciting to actually have the opportunity to have influence. I tried when I was a candidate, but the reality is people are less likely to meet with you.”

One of her top priorities is to regenerate the town centres. She said she saw nothing incompatible with two of her others – bringing jobs into the town and protecting green spaces. “We’ve got lots of derelict shops in town and in Bumpers Farm,” she said. “It’s about trying to encourage businesses there to take on more staff.

“I’ve said the Range is good for Chippenham, but I do have concerns about that location.”

After Thursday’s remarkable result she stayed up until 8.30am watching her party’s victory unfold.

This week Miss Donelan, whose background is in marketing, has been getting to know some of her 330 new Parliamentary colleagues on an induction programme in London.

“It’s a bit like if you go to school if you like,” she said. “Doing workshops on what is expected of you.”

She said she and her fellow Tory MPs are expected to be in the Commons to take part in voting Monday to Thursday, until 10pm on Monday, 7pm Tuesday and Wednesday and 5.30pm on Thursday. Then Fridays and Saturdays will be spent in the Chippenham constituency. But even after that she will not be resting on her laurels. “I’m not going to take every Sunday off,” she said. “I will be responding to emails.”

She expects normal business to commence on Monday, but is not giving away which way she intends to vote on issues that have been causing a stir this week.

“I am not going to get into the speculation of Bills until we see what’s in the Queen’s speech,” she said.

On Conservative plans to repeal the Human Rights Act she said the idea was "not to do away with it, just replace it" with a British list.

She would not give her opinion on fox hunting, saying: “I am here as a representative and I will listen on every single topic, whether or not it is in the manifesto.”

She said she very much wants to be an accessible MP and is currently creating a schedule of surgeries in her constituency, having pledged to hold two a week.