I’m tempted to write how my trip to Westminster was a ‘once in a lifetime experience’, but it’s something I’d love to do again.
Last Wednesday, my colleague Emma and I were guests of Wokingham MP Clive Jones.
As somewhat of a political and news junkie, one highlight for me was Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
Just hours before the noon start, Clive had guided us into an empty house of commons chamber – the fulcrum of political power in the United Kingdom.
As we stood at the dispatch boxes, seeing the wear from countless exchanges over the years, it was difficult not to visualise some of the historic debates that had taken place at that very place.
Politics is theatre to me, no matter where it happens, and as noon approached the hum from MPs grew louder.
Emma and I engaged in a bit of celebrity-spotting.
“There’s Diane Abbot. There’s Sir Ed Davey. There’s Nigel Farage.”
Sitting in the second row of the gallery – above the Labour benches, just added to the theatrical atmosphere.
I think the biggest thing I learned was the serious amount of banter and frantic gesticulating that sometimes happens – off camera – when an MP is speaking.
Understandably, the television camera tightly focuses on the MP speaking, but to be doing that when perhaps 200 others are, in some cases, trying to shout them down, takes some confidence.
Interestingly, Clive said his seat in the house needs to be ‘reserved’ early on Wednesday morning – by attaching a small piece of paper with his name to the back of his place on the bench – specifically chosen so that when the leader of his party is speaking, he is often captured by cameras in the background.
Another personal highlight for me was a chance meeting in Westminster Hall with the ‘bionic Lord, Lord Mackinlay of Richborough, formerly MP Craig Macinley.
As a below-the-knee amputee myself, he is somewhat of an icon for amputees – having lost both legs and his arms to sepsis.
But after PMQs, it’s safe to say that reporting on full council meetings at Wokingham borough council has a lot to live up to.
