When I first arrived for my work experience, I was collected by Juliet from Claire’s Westminster team and walked towards the office through Portcullis House and into the 1 Parliament street building. It was so interesting to see the inside of these buildings and learn some more about them.
When I arrived at the office, I then met the rest of Claire’s Westminster team - Matt and Jack.
After being introduced, I sat down at my own desk in the office and started off opening the post. This became the first job I did every morning when I arrived and was something I really enjoyed doing, it was fascinating to see what sort of post is sent into Claire, how every letter is processed into a database, and then responded to.
I then met Claire a little while later, and it was nice to speak to her and ask her some questions about what’s like to be the Member of Parliament for East Surrey.
Afterwards, I had lunch with Claire’s team on the terrace overlooking the River Thames and saw some of the GB Paralympic team who had just returned from Tokyo, which was quite exciting.
When I got back from lunch I got taught how to handle casework, which involved researching and responding to constituents’ enquires that I’d opened in the post, which I then did throughout my experience.
I also joined the weekly team zoom meeting, so got to meet the rest of Claire’s team in the East Surrey office and got to listen to the tasks in place for the running of the week.
The next day, I had a tour of the Houses Of Parliament, which was very interesting, I was able to compare what you see on television to real life, and was shown around parts of the palace that the public don’t normally get to see, such as the rooms and corridors surrounding the Lords Chamber where the Queen prepares for the Queen's Speech. I also heard all of the history about some of the most famous places, including Westminster Hall.
On Wednesday, Claire organised a ticket for me to sit in the Public Gallery in the House of Commons and watch Prime Ministers Questions. It was an brilliant experience to see all of the well-known politicians in person and witness such a lively debate between the opposing parties.
On my final day, I went up to the roof of Parliament and got to see the skyline of London. I had lunch outside on the terrace again in the sun, and did some more casework research in the office, as well as looking through the Whips’ ‘Business for the week ahead'.
I then read through a speechwriting crash course prepared by Jack based on a course he did with Simon Lancaster, who used to be a government speechwriter.
It was really interesting seeing just how much careful work goes into preparing, crafting and delivering a speech.
I would like to thank Claire, Juliet, Jack and Matt for making me feel extremely welcome, and for such an interesting and enjoyable work experience.
They allowed me to make the most out of my four days there by planning lots of different exciting activities and by answering all of the various questions that I asked. They asked for my opinion on certain topics and involved me as part of their team with no difficulty at all.
This experience will help massively with my University application, and has given me something fantastic to add to my CV.
