On 1st October, Politics students in Years 12 and 13 were fortunate enough to visit the Houses of Parliament to complement some of the work we have been covering through our course. After a quick journey down to Westminster, we arrived at the entrance and were first introduced with a 15 minute video about the history and composition of Parliament, all the way from the signing of the Magna Carta, the Glorious Revolution to the present-day functions.  

 After this, the group was split and each began a tour of the Houses of Parliament starting at the Sovereign’s Entrance and continued to the Robing Room. This entailed a discussion about the role of the Queen in politics as she prepares for the official State Opening of Parliament, by wearing her ceremonial robes and Imperial State Crown. Walking across the building, we made our way to the House of Lords where we wandered around the Second Chamber of the UK Parliament, thoroughly discussing the role of peers, including life peers, hereditary peers and spiritual peers and their duty in scrutinizing the government’s agenda. After having religiously watched PMQs on Wednesday lunchtimes, our group were all so happy to finally come across the infamous House of Commons with the green seats.  

Following this we saw the two division lobbies where MPs vote either ‘Aye’ or ‘No’ on proposed government motions. By this time the guided tour had ended, but Dr. Liam Fox, MP for North Somerset, kindly offered us a tour of his office in Westminster. Once we got to his office, he told us about his day-to-day life as an MP and what it was like being in cabinet, then we all had opportunities to ask him our own questions. The trip was a wonderful immersive experience that linked so much with the Politics A Level course. It helped us link political knowledge to real life, and get a greater sense of what it is like to work as an MP. 

 Lucy Downes and Amber Khlat, Upper Sixth