Sixth form visit to Parliament

Citizens and King’s (sic): the Politics Trip to Parliament (28 February 2007)

With its future currently a hot political topic, the House of Lords was certainly the place to be seen earlier this term. Ten politics students first visited Fielden House, opposite the Palace of Westminster, to meet two peers of the realm, Lord Parekh (Lab.) and Lord Norton of Louth (Con.), both of whom are also politics professors. After the group had gone through security – some more easily than others, the two lords spoke eloquently about the role and functions of the House of Lords and Lord Norton answered innumerable (but very good) questions from Richard Small, Adrian Tickridge-Day, Lauren Phillips and Andrew Jones.

After an hour of furious note taking, the two lords took pity on us and escorted us into Parliament itself. For the second time that day we were all screened for security – several times in the case of one member of the party who kept forgetting to empty his pockets. To put us at our ease Lord Parekh jokingly enquired whether any of us was a terrorist or maybe had a condom filled with purple powder. After a nervous-looking Mr Neal had reassured him on both counts, the two peers commenced a whistle-stop tour of Parliament, taking us to all sorts of places where it seemed we weren’t supposed to be at that time of day. ‘Are we allowed in there now, do you think?’ one would ask. ‘Well, let’s go in until someone tells us to get out’ the other would reply.

Highlights of the tour included seeing Charles I’s death warrant (bearing the signature of a Norton), the Throne Room and the Lobby. In one of the Lords’ division lobbies (the ‘Not Contents’) he pulled out a table from the wall and explained how votes are counted. We went out onto the Terrace, visited a House of Lords committee room – the Moses Room – and, after an hour, finished up near a café: perfect, as we were all feeling peckish. Lords Norton of Louth and Parekh then left us, though not before Lord Parekh embarrassed Mr. Neal by saying to all the students that he had known him since he was in short trousers and was so high.

Fed and watered, we decided that if we were going to visit one of the two chambers we should go to the Lords (a) because it’s more impressive and (b) because we would be more likely to get in. En route we purchased a few souvenirs (including portcullis socks for one stylish member of the upper sixth). We had to queue for half an hour to get into the Lords’ viewing gallery but it was worth it. While we waited, a bill was delivered back to the Lords from the other place. Then, after yet another security check, we heard the Lords’ version of Question Time and saw a surprisingly full chamber and many famous faces, including Lord Falconer, Baroness Amos, Lord  Howe, Lord Hurd, Lord Winston and a King’s School governor no less, the Rt Revd the Lord Bishop of Chester.

We now went by tube to the Royal Academy, where we saw the exhibition ‘Citizens and Kings’. This contained portraits of the famous and not so famous from the period 1760-1830 – the dawn of modern democracy. The great Whig politician Charles James Fox thrice appeared and there were interesting exercises in using art for political myth-making in the portraits of rulers such as Louis XVI and Napoleon Bonaparte. Legs were weary by this stage and the lure of the RA café was strong. Suitably revived, the party trooped on to Pizza Express. Although more Margherita than Granita, at least the particular Pizza Express we dined in was “the first and original” and was therefore, in New Labour parlance, ‘historic’.

Twenty-four hours had proved to be a long time in politics but although it was a long day it was immensely worthwhile. A repeat visit is surely on the cards and ought to become an annual pilgrimage for students of government and politics. The other students who went on the visit were: Joe Lloyd, Nadine Pilkington, Emily Dawson, Ralph Dempsey, Matthew Dodd and Vicki Clarke (who showed how much of a political animal she is by coming along on her 18th birthday).

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