Year 12 Politics Conference

The Year 12 Politics students spent a riveting day on 10 March at a Politics conference in central London. Entitled ‘The state of the state’, the conference heard from a variety of speakers from across the political spectrum, who talked about a range of issues, such as UK-US relations, reform of the House of Lords, the importance of smaller political parties and the rights of minorities. Speakers included Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Richard Tice, Emily Thornberry, Siân Berry and Daisy Cooper, who were all very gracious with their time and took a range of questions from the audience. Of significant impact was Lord Dubs, a Holocaust survivor and campaigner for human rights, who spoke movingly of his own experiences as a child of the Kindertransport and his firm conviction of the rights of refugees and economic migrants. The afternoon ended with a Q&A session with Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor to Tony Blair and now the co-host with Rory Stewart of the popular podcast ‘The rest is politics’. Mr Campbell sent a strong message to the audience of the importance of voting in elections and getting involved in politics, no matter at what level or what party.