You can't change your roots. I was born and brought up in Essex.

I'm as proud of being from Essex as I am of having represented a key part of Lancashire for the past 27 years.

Indeed there are surprising similarities between the county of my birth and of my adoption.

People from each are very proud of their county, almost nationalist in their loyalties.

When I was at school, Stratford didn't have a lot to recommend it, except it was still Essex.

My grandfather was a mechanic on London Buses, so he got free fares.

He used to wax lyrical about being able to travel the 10 miles from our home town for the bargains in Stratford market.

And I used to enjoy going to Stratford station.

It was the nearest place where a schoolboy from my area could see large steam engines.

This Tuesday, it was a return to Essex, and Stratford, with Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary.

Tessa was the driving spirit in government behind our successful Olympic bid.

There were plenty support outside government, including former athlete Sebastian (now Lord) Coe, but a lot of sceptics in the government needed persuading that if we put our heart into the project we might be short-listed, and even, just could win.

I didn't need a great deal of convincing to believe that the Olympics were worth a shot.

My enthusiasm was "rewarded" by making me chairman of the special Cabinet Committee to supervise the bid.

The Prime Minister asked me to do this partly because I was then Foreign Secretary, and we needed to present our case to foreign countries who were members of the key International Olympics Committee (IOC).

The problem I had chairing this committee was that I was often abroad.

However I've kept the responsibility as Leader of the Commons, and I'm now able to devote more time to it.

First stop on the visit to Stratford was the roof of a 20-plus storey tower block overlooking the Olympic site.

How the Stratford of my childhood had changed.

And in place of that railway marshalling yard there's now a massive cleared site for the new international stations, the main stadium and the Olympic village.

If the Olympics were going to come to the UK, it was bluntly London or nowhere.

But a big issue for Tessa, for Sebastian Coe, and for me is to ensure that the benefits of the games before, during and after are spread across the UK, from Essex to Lancashire and beyond.

There is an Olympic roadshow which will be visiting all parts of the UK.

It's at Preston North End FC on 27 July, and then in Manchester later the same day.

Who knows whether there will be a surprise visit to Blackburn!