A GROUP of Year 12 Government & Politics students from King’s Ely visited Westminster in London last week.
The students walked downed Whitehall, past by Downing Street and took a tour of the Supreme Court, hearing about the Human Rights Act and its impact in court. They then travelled to the Palace of Westminster to meet Lord Hennessy of Nymsfield –a leading constitution expert and eminent historian – to talk to them about the role of the Lords, before touring the Houses of Parliament, where they learnt about the fascinating history of the building. The trip concluded with a visit to the House of Commons, where a debate was underway.
At this point, the King’s Ely Politics department embarked on its most successful people-spotting mission yet; they saw David Cameron, George Osborne, Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan-Smith, Michael Gove, Nicky Morgan, Phillip Hammond, Jeremy Corbyn, Teresa Villiers and Ken Clarke, all in the space of five minutes.
They then met a series of MPs, Lords, Local Councillors and Members of the Whips’ Office, and were given an opportunity to question various different people and hear their varying responses. Finally, local MP Lucy Frazer came to talk to the students about her role of representing constituents and that of the Conservative Party.
Sharon Jackson, Head of Politics at King’s Ely, summarised the day: “Lots of activities were planned in perhaps the busiest politics trip to date. The students really enjoyed meeting Lord Hennessy and our local MP, Lucy Fraser. All in all, it was a highly informative day!”