Here's something no one has seen before - four Labour MPs in Westminster and every one from Suffolk!

The county's four Labour MPs, Jack Abbott, Jess Asato, Peter Prinsley and Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, are all new to Westminster.

The quartet came together in Westminster Hall as a group picture of all the Labour MPs from across the Eastern Counties was being prepared.

Meanwhile the only Suffolk MP to return after serving in the previous parliament, South Suffolk's James Cartlidge, spoke about the very different mood he found on his return to the Commons.

The arrival in Westminster threw up some surprises - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket MP and hospital consultant Dr Peter Prinsley discovered one of the staff the House of Commons was a patient whom he had operated on as an ear, nose and throat specialist.

They have all now formally sworn in and are ready to get down to work once the King's Speech opening parliament is held next Wednesday.

James Cartlidge has returned to a very different House of CommonsJames Cartlidge has returned to a very different House of Commons (Image: House of Commons)

Mr Cartlidge said returning to Westminster after the election had been a very odd experience, given the Conservatives are now in opposition.

He said: "Right from the start it felt very different - even little things like going to the other side of the House of Commons."

Until the election he was defence procurement minister in the Ministry of Defence, now he has been appointed shadow defence secretary after Grant Shapps lost his seat.

But he is not sure his new role will change his relationship with his constituency much: "We've always lived in the constituency and I've always been busy with constituency matters even as a minister.

"So that won't change - although I won't have the (government red) boxes to deal with every day."

He felt his constituency work had helped him to get re-elected: "A lot of people said to me on the doorstep that they didn't feel the government deserved to be re-elected but they'd vote for me for what I'd done in the seat and that was comforting - I think that helped for some of my colleagues as well."