Derek represents the UK at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and has a particular interest in the Armed Forces and foreign affairs.
 
He served as Vice-Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Inter-Parliamentary Union and has a specific interest in the Middle-East. For over twenty years he chaired the British-Moroccan All-Party Parliamentary Group, for which he was honoured by His Majesty the King of Morocco who invested him with one of the Kingdom's highest awards.
 
For many years he served on the Executive Committee of the British American Parliamentary Group and has many friends in the United States Congress.

Locally he has campaigned against the reductions in services at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup in particular the closure of the excellent Maternity Unit and the Accident & Emergency Wards.  Derek initiated an Adjournment debate in Parliament to which the Health Minister was required to reply.
 
His latest campaign is about the Government's proposed changes to supporting workers with disabilities requiring additional employer action. He is particularly concerned at the impact for blind and partially sighted employees and has been working with the Royal London Society for the Blind to highlight their concerns for London region with Ministers at the Department of Work & Pensions.
 
Within the Conservative Party he has championed the need for academically selected Grammar Schools (of which three are based in his constituency) despite personally failing the 11+ exam,
 
One of earliest parliamentary campaigns was for free NHS disposable syringes for diabetic children.
 
He has campaigned for free parcel post for British troops serving abroad, especially at Christmas and urged the Home Secretary to hold a knife-possession amnesty for bladed weapons to be handed into local police stations.