IOn a sunny day in Norfolk, Peter Princely, the first Labour member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, was about to examine a 90-year-old man's nostrils. But before he could get out his microscope to see what was causing the man's chronic nosebleeds, the patient had something to say.
“Congratulations on your appointment!” said Tony Wilkin, lying on an examination bed in the Princely Examination Room at the James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth.
Wilkin's wife, Vera, has doubts. Princely, a prominent ear, nose and throat surgeon, Really How does she have time to be in Parliament when all of East Anglia needs him? Her husband was diagnosed as a “critical” patient in May and was only seen in August.
Princely never expected to be answering a patient's question about why it's now more difficult to get an appointment.
“To be honest, I wanted to win, but deep down I didn't really think I could. [Bury St Edmunds] “In my opinion it was the third safest Conservative seat in England,” he said shortly after the shock win.
Princely also trains the next generation of ear, nose and throat specialists and runs a genetics programme at the University of East Anglia, so some might think he could do more for society in the NHS than in Parliament.
But “both roles have their place,” he says, with a mischievous look behind his wire-framed glasses. “I was in a group of doctors who would often complain about the situation we were in, and a lot of people said to me, 'If you're going to complain so much, why don't you run for office and try to change it?'”
Princely didn't even stand as candidate for Bury St Edmunds, a constituency that has been held by the Conservatives for 150 years: he tried to represent Great Yarmouth, but Labour chose another candidate (a decision Labour decision-makers may now be regretting, after their candidate lost to Reform UK).
The day after Rishi Sunak declared the election, Mr Princely received a phone call from Labour headquarters saying: “Congratulations, you've been selected as the candidate for Bury St Edmunds.”
Princely credited “tireless local women” with driving his historic victory with little support from Labor leaders. He bought an old post office van, decorated it with photos of himself in scrubs and spent six weeks campaigning going door-to-door with the surefire conversation starter, “It's Peter from the hospital.”
Bury St Edmunds' last Conservative MP, Joe Churchill, retired with a majority of around 25,000 votes. The constituency was considered safe and Sunak's deputy leader Will Tanner stepped down at the last minute, but Mr Princely defeated him by 1,452 votes.
At 66, Princely is one of the oldest newcomers in a parliament where 335 of the 650 members are new. “When I go to Parliament House, the thing that strikes me the most is how young everyone looks,” he tells a nosebleed sufferer. “When I go in there, I think, who gave these kids the country?”
One of his younger colleagues, whom he doesn't name, is 24-year-old Josh Dean, who was still a student living at home with his mother when he became the first Labour MP for Hertford and Stortford.
“Moving is my number one priority,” Dean said on the House of Commons terrace, clutching his new parliamentary iPad, minutes after winning an unexpected majority of 4,748 votes. As well as wanting independence, he is worried about his mother and younger brother.
“Of course, being an MP comes with security issues so I am concerned. My younger brother is 15 – he's at the age where he hangs out with his friends and all his friends will have found flyers about me in their letterboxes, so they will all know who I am. I'm concerned about how it will affect him and my mum,” he said.
Dean left school at 17 “feeling directionless” and worked at a local Starbucks before returning to education as an adult student.
At the time of the election, he was in his final year of a degree in politics and international relations at the University of Westminster and cannot graduate until he has completed his doctoral thesis, a comparative study of the techniques of control used in the “war on terror” and the Northern Ireland conflict.
He claims most voters don't comment on his age – one woman told him: “Oh, you look about 12” – but he also claims he has enough life experience to be an MP.
“I didn't become an MP in the traditional way, I didn't become an MP through school or work, and I think that diversity of experience is actually really valuable.”
While Dean and Princely made history as the first Labour MPs in their respective constituencies, New Labour MP for Sheffield Central, Abutisam Mohammed, broke another record: As the first Arab woman, and the first Yemeni woman, to be elected to Parliament, her victory attracted attention well beyond the steel city.
One of the first calls she received after winning by a majority of 8,286 votes was from Yemen's equivalent of 10 Downing Street, when the country's president, Rashad al-Alimi, called to congratulate her.
When The Guardian met Mohammed in Parliament, she was rushing through the induction ceremony, trying to make sense of the country's arcane traditions. She was itching to give her first speech but couldn't believe that not only would she be given a date and time to do it, but that she would also have to “wriggle” up and down to catch the speaker's eye.
At just under five feet tall, she is at a clear disadvantage and, despite her frantic swaying, is unable to speak on the floor. “The first time I spoke I felt really silly. It makes me feel a bit childish, but it's a process and apparently if you don't do it you won't be called.”
She says her main priorities in council are addressing climate change, supporting public sector workers and improving transportation in the region.
Born in Yemen in 1980, Mohammed was brought to Sheffield at an early age where his father and grandfather worked in the steel industry.
She herself worked in the voluntary sector and as a teacher before gaining a law degree and setting up her own human rights and asylum practice in Sheffield.
Princely closed his office over the summer holidays after Starmer banned MPs from taking on second jobs – with a few exceptions, such as doctors – and will work part-time as a surgeon alongside his new day job.
He wants to be able to influence health policy but disagrees with the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, who on his first day in office declared: “The policy of this department is that the NHS is dysfunctional”.
“It's a little broken, but it's not completely broken. I think that's an exaggeration,” Princely said.
Just days after taking office, Labour's newest members faced their first official test of party loyalty, as the Scottish National Party tabled an amendment to the King's Speech calling on the government to lift the two-child welfare limit.
Seven Labour MPs fell foul of the party's leader and were summarily suspended by Mr Starmer – the three newcomers were not among them, but Mr Mohammed said he “feel strong about this issue”.
She is one of eight children and says: “When tax credits were introduced, they were introduced by the Labour government and they benefited families like mine.”
Did she want to rebel in her heart? Like a veteran politician, she dodged the question: “I'm too new to think about that, and I don't think I understand the structure well enough to rebel at this stage.”
On Monday, she will file back into the House of Commons after the summer recess and gesture until the speaker finally gives her a chance to speak.
Will she and her new colleagues maintain their radiant optimism about changing the world? Or will they sit frustrated on their seats, voting for things they don't believe in, afraid of what might happen if they don't? Only time will tell.
