By Bronwen Edwards (Third Year Politics and Global Governance)

Despite dreaming of working within Parliament, I did not think the opportunity would arise until after I finished University (if at all!) Because of this, receiving a phone call in November offering me a paid Parliamentary position was the most surprising day of my life.

To explain my happiness some background needs to be provided. David Hanson, my MP from Delyn constituency, inspired me to pursue a political pathway, unlike the MPs you see in the media, David Hanson was not an Eatonian, Oxbridge educated, out of touch MP, rather he is a down to earth man who is able to fully sympathise with the problems people in my community were feeling. It’s hard to describe how it feels to work for the man who inspired you into politics; it is comparable to David Beckham managing the football team you play for.

To be offered such an amazing opportunity in line with my studies was crazy. As you can imagine my first day was nerve-racking, receiving my Parliamentary staff pass was a strange experience but one I will remember. The skills I swiftly developed whilst working in such an important institution are immeasurable to any other experience I have had.

Political scientists discuss the importance of networking; these networking circles tend to start within schools such as Eaton so having the opportunity to meet and infiltrate those groups whilst still within University was exceedingly helpful for my future political career. I even managed to conduct interviews for my research project for my second year module, Political Research and Practice, in addition to material for my third year dissertation.

Gaining the experience to network, handle case-work, deal with confidential information and augment various ways of connecting with the community are going to be invaluable to my future political career. My main role however was ensuring a weekly email newsletter was developed and sent to those who had subscribed and to update my MPs website to a completely new, easy to use website that had a contact section to ensure the constituency was able to keep updated with their MPs work both within London and in the constituency. You can see the newly developed website here.

I have acquired invaluable experience over the past year gaining the opportunity to work both in a constituency office and a parliamentary office, I now know that my future is within the House of Commons, hopefully the skills I have developed throughout these experiences will open the doors I need for my dream job!