Placement at Parliament

My name is Melissa and I am 21, I have just finished university at Oxford Brookes, where I studied Business and English Language and Linguistics. I am waiting on my results (due back March 7th 2011) I am about to embark on a series of placements and additional courses, which I plan on blogging about to keep my friends and family up to date.

My first blog post is going to be about my placement at the House of Commons in Westminster, London. It was an extremely stimulating placement in an MP’s office. My placement began with a thorough ID check and the printing up of my government identification badges, which was all very exciting. I soon began work in the office and met the other staff, who were very helpful and welcoming. The office had an amazing view of Big Ben, overlooking the atrium of Portcullis house. I was eased into my placement quite gently, by replying to various invitations, including one from Manchester United! I quickly realised, however, that a parliamentary office can be a very stressful and extremely busy working environment and that it is quite a challenge keeping up pace.


During my time at parliament, I was lucky enough to be able to witness the student protests regarding the increase in tuition fees and cutting of EMA allowance. During a student lobby in Westminster Hall, I was amazed to see the contrasting opinions of the students and politicians. It was very unusual to be both part of the ‘us and them’ categories.

There was also a fun promotional event whilst I was in the office, in which a British shoe company wanted to do a promotional piece for their website in which they interview various personalities who are passionate about what they do, and interview them ‘in their shoes’…literally. This included a photo shoot and enabled me to ghost write an article based on the event. It was a good challenge to be able to adapt from the seriousness of working in parliament to writing a tongue in cheek article about the MP I was working for also being a male model!

Before my placement at parliament, I didn’t realise that constituents of the MP’s designated area can ask their MP for help, with just about anything and everything, from their knitting club being cancelled to their divorces. I was so touched at the care and attention, as well as the time and effort that are put into answering all of these letters and genuinely trying to help each of these people. On behalf of the office I was working in, I myself wrote to the Ministry of Justice regarding of one of the constituents. I really enjoyed this ‘helping the people’ aspect of working in a parliamentary office.

Following my placement, I can see that working in a parliamentary office can be a very demanding environment and I feel my experience here definitely assisted with my ability to prioritize and remain calm in high-pressure situations. Unfortunately I had to cut my placement at parliament short by a week because my finals were postponed to after Christmas due to the bad weather in Oxford and I felt I needed to focus on revision for my exams. Hopefully this will pay off. I will let everyone know the results on 7^th February 2011 whilst I am in China! (FINGERS CROSSED!)

Melissa x