Home to 650 MPs in the House of Commons and 767 peers in the House of Lords, Parliament is the foundation of the UK’s democracy. It is the place where ideas are debated, legislation is made, and the Government of the day is held to account. While UK Parliament as we know it today was founded in 1801, the Parliament of England preceded it in the two chambers when it was established in 1215 before being disbanded in 1707. It is rich in history – with the Palace of Westminster dating all the way back to 1016 before being mostly rebuilt in the mid-19th century – and Parliament’s responsibility to govern has endured throughout those centuries.
Parliament offers a great opportunity for people to be represented by their MP, who represents their constituency (local area), and allows voters have their voices heard on a national scale while also having a point of contact for local issues.
With a large-scale organisation like Parliament comes a need for dedicated, skilled employees to assist MPs and facilitate the effective day-to-day running of the House, with more than 3,000 employed just by the House of Commons. With young people becoming more involved in politics in a variety of forms, including through study, campaign groups and social media, there are many different career paths on offer to those wishing to pursue politics.
On Monday, I went into Portcullis House in Westminster to speak to Parliamentary Assistant, Joshua Richards, to gain a greater understanding about what his role in Parliament entails and to get a flavour for the environment of working inside Parliament. The interview transcript can be found below:
1. What does your day-to-day work as a Parliamentary Assistant involve?
A Parliamentary Assistant role involves a variety of different things. It can involve helping the MP you work for to devise written responses to questions that relate to policy to capture some of what the government is doing and some of the key ways in which the State is supporting constituents. It can also involve casework, which refers to any support that an MP can provide for someone’s more personal or local needs, for example access to benefits, or a visa application, or flooding in a local area. It’s just ensuring that the Member of Parliament is doing everything that they can to support their constituents. There’s also taking phone calls and making sure that the MP’s diary is full of worthwhile things.
2. What’s it like to work in such a historical building with such famous figures?
Obviously, Parliament is undergoing a lot of reconstruction at the moment, which really reminds you of the age of this place, but so do the statues of former PMs and all the artwork from centuries gone by. It feels really special to be a part of it. I’d say the novelty does wear off a little bit, but it still gives me goosebumps at times. I have also come to appreciate the openness of the place – members of the public can just walk in for a tour or with a passholder and they get to experience it all for themselves.
3. What’s your favourite thing about the job?
Certainly the most rewarding thing about the job is seeing an action deliver meaningful change to a person’s situation. At the moment we are dealing a lot with the crisis in Ukraine, and I think it’s most rewarding to see people getting their visas to enter the country, especially when it is against the odds or when they’re in such danger. I also really enjoy anything that involves meeting people – whether that be constituents or partners in the constituency. I enjoy interacting with them and collaborating with them to bring about change.
4. What are the biggest challenges that come with working for a government minister?
A government minister isn’t involved in things like Early Day Motions or other debates and that’s challenging because constituents may expect their Member to attend those. Not only is it conventional for them to refrain, but they also don’t have the time or the capacity to get involved. You also don’t write speeches because they have ministerial team to help them with that.
Additionally, there’s a principle called collective responsibility where all members of the government are expected to be of one voice, one mind and to have unity and when there are divisive topics that come up, it does sometimes put that principle under strain. But it’s the MP’s job to search their conscience and to really seek unity if they can. As members’ staff, we then have to really support them in that.
5. How much of a springboard can your job be for entering mainstream politics?
I gather that a lot of MPs were once Parliamentary Assistants and I think it’s really great experience to learn about what the remit of an MP is and to understand how the political system works. Even if you were to go into the private sector in a politics/government-facing job, it really helps to understand how politics functions from the inside, because you won’t know how to influence anything from the outside if you don’t know the processes within, so it’s very useful in those respects.
6. If you had one piece of advice for anyone pursuing a career in politics, what would it be?
So much of politics is about consensus building, not just across the House but also within your own party. Sometimes that involves sacrificing an ideal policy which you may have in your mind for one that is more qualified, but still improves the situation. You really have to pick your battles.
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