Last week, I visited Walton Oak School in Walton for the Top of the Class final. Organised by our brilliant Walton Rotary Club, it is an annual competition between Year 6 pupils at schools right across the borough. This year, 18 schools fought it out in several rounds, until we got down to the final two: Walton Oak versus St Lawrence CofE Junior School.

In the final, last Friday, Tony Stephens from Walton Rotary proved yet again a magisterial question-master - firm but fair - as the two teams contested 10 hard rounds, ranging from maths conundrums to trivia teasers. Both teams were superb, but eventually St Lawrence won. Congratulations to the winners (pictured below), runners-up, and Walton Rotary for organising such a great competition.

During a general election campaign, the candidates stand on their party's manifesto and their own local record. But, I also find that I get asked a lot what my personal core convictions are. What drives me personally? What are my priorities as a nationally elected representative participating in writing the laws of the land and setting the national agenda?

The bottom line is that I went into politics to fight for free enterprise, liberty and a more meritocratic society. What does that mean in practice? Here are six of my key priorities to give you a flavour of my own personal vision of a better Britain ...

1. I want lower taxes and less red tape, so Britain creates jobs and prosperity in a competitive world.
2. I want to smash monopolies, so small businesses can compete and customers have greater choice.
3. I want more free speech and less political correctness for a healthier democracy.
4. I want terrorists and criminals under surveillance, not all law-abiding citizens.
5. I want more ladders of opportunity, so youngsters from any background can be successful.
6. I want to strengthen your democratic voice - including more local democracy, a right of recall over MPs, and an EU referendum.

The Conservatives have a strong record on education over the last 5 years. We have enacted legislation to strengthen teacher discipline in the classroom. There is a greater focus on the basics like numeracy and literacy. We have restored academic rigour to the syllabus, so children are equipped for working life once they leave school. We have also put in place investment in a major expansion of apprenticeships and other vocational training, for bright - but not necessarily academic - youngsters.

We have, through the academy and free school program, given dedicated and pioneering head-teachers, school governors and parents greater freedom to innovate in their local schools - to tailor the education for their pupils and community, and drive up standards. The result? We now have 1 million more children in schools rated outstanding or good by Ofsted.

Locally, I have fought for a fairer deal for local funding. As a result, I secured a doubling of the capital funding for local schools, and an increase of £212 in the per pupil funding for local children. We have a major school-building program underway, which will ease the acute pressure we face for school places (because of the last Labour government's under-investment).

I have also worked with local schools and Surrey County Council to get more sensible catchment areas for some schools. We have an increasing number of academies - and two new free schools in Cobham - and standards of teaching are rising across the borough.

As well as working to ease pressure on local school places, I have been making the case nationally for a meritocratic revolution to boost social mobility. Last year, I published The Meritocrat's Manifesto here, which sets out the ladders of opportunity I'd like to see to expand opportunities for youngsters irrespective of their background.

Yesterday, the Sutton Trust released some research showing the proportion of candidates at the next election from public school and Oxbridge. So, I have written a column for The Times today, looking at the state of meritocracy - inside and outside the Westminster village.

You can read it here.

I have written a column for Conservative Home, here, on the Equality Regulations that require 40,000 councils, police forces, schools and other public bodies to account for the social make-up of their staff and promote diversity - and section 159 of the Equality Act which licences positive discrimination.

I am opposed to these measures, because they place unnecessary red-tape on hard-pressed public bodies and businesses, and they are unmeritocratic and socially divisive.

As trailed yesterday, today I am publishing The Meritocrat's Manifesto with the Social Market Foundation (SMF). I will be debating it at the SMF on Wednesday.

You can read the report here.

Tomorrow, I am launching my new report for the Social Market Foundation, The Meritocrat's Manifesto. It sets out a range of policy ideas to help make Britain more meritocratic - and revive stalled social mobility.

Today, I trailed the report with a column for The Sun on Sunday. You can access it online here. The report will be available on Monday.

After the turbulent impact of UKIP on the mainstream parties, I have written a column for the Sunday Express on the challenges for the Tories at the 2015 election - and what we need to do to win an outright majority.

The column was requested based on my remarks at a Conservative Home conference panel debate last weekend. You can read the article here.

I have written a column for The Times today on how we should responsibly cut taxes, given the high levels of debt and competing economic and social priorities.

You can access it here.

I have been volunteering again at Fight For Peace, a boxing and martial arts academy in Newham, in East London, that has a wider remit to help get youngsters from tough backgrounds on a positive path into study, training or work.

The Academy has centres in London and Rio. You can find out more about the Academy and its ethos here. They interviewed me recently on my interest and involvement down at Newham. You can read it here.

One of my campaigns up in Parliament is promoting non-graduate routes into the professions. Law is a good example. Strengthening non-graduate routes would promote competition for the provision of high street legal services - such as conveyancing and probate - which would help cut the exorbitant price of such services for the consumer. But, it would also promote social mobility, giving youngsters from tougher backgrounds a better chance to realise their dream of entering a profession that is perceived to be the preserve of the better off.

I wrote a piece this month for Prospect magazine on the issue. You can access it here.

I have been making the case for a centre-right approach to social fairness, based on meritocracy rather than social engineering. Last summer I published a report called 'Unleashing the British Underdog'.

In tomorrow's The Guardian, I develop the argument and policy ideas further. You can read the piece here.

On Monday, I am publishing a new report with the Centre for Policy Studies called Unleashing the British Underdog - 10 Bets on the Little Guy.

It is a mini-manifesto on social mobility, setting out a meritocratic rather than egalitarian vision of fairness. The report is trailed with an article I have written for the Sunday Times, tomorrow, which can be accessed here.

Update: The report is now available online here.