The governing class

The dust has settled on the election and the West Country seems to have done particularly well in terms of government posts.

We've half a dozen or so Tory and Lib Dem ministers, the most high profile being Liam Fox as Defence Secretary. (There was one other before the fall from grace of Yeovil's David Laws!)

Even Labour - practically wiped out here in May - managed something, with Dawn Primarolo now elected deputy to Speaker John Bercow (who, incidentally, unsuccessfully challenged for her Bristol South seat in 1992).

It's a far cry though from the Labour days, when Dawn was the only real member of the government from the patch.

So we've been picking them off one by one.

We've invited the Forest of Dean's Mark Harper onto the Politics Show to talk Alternative Votes and boundary changes - what would have happened in May if the West Country had had AV?

Thornbury & Yate's Steve Webb has shown us around his offices in the Department of Work and Pensions.

Soon we'll be talking to John Penrose from Weston-super-Mare, the new minister for tourism.

Behind the scenes, there are some interesting appointments to note, that may not have made it quite into the public eye.

A host of new Tory MPs have got onto various Select Committees, which scrutinise the government. That's pretty good for first timers, and gives an indication of which MPs to watch out for in this parliament.

Claire Perry (Devizes) and Robert Buckland (South Swindon) are on Justice (Robert is a former barrister); Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) is on Health, and Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) on Education. Charlotte is closely involved with plans for yet another academy school in Bristol - watch this space.

The Lib Dems have also been busy, getting MPs to set up policy committees. They're quick to point out these are not shadowing the government in which they are partners.

But there's speculation they could become the focus of any backbench discontent with the coalition.

Don Foster (Bath) chairs the Lib Dem Culture committee; Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) runs Transport and Stephen Williams (Bristol West) is responsible for their Treasury committee.