A group of about 20 Year 12 and 13 students spent an exciting few hours at the House of Commons in late November. The first thing we did was go straight into the chamber, and listened to the MPs talk mainly about the flooding which had happened in Cumbria. That was very interesting, and then they started to continue their discussion of the Queen’s Speech, which they had started a few days previously.

We then proceeded to the ‘Crimson Room’. It was here that we waited for John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, to finish his chairing in the chamber and quickly come to see us before there was another discussion which he couldn’t miss. While he was with us, he spoke about what it was like living in the House of Commons.

Our tour guide, dressed in a suit with a top hat and tail and black shiny shoes with huge silver buckles, with his trousers tucked into his socks, stated as soon as he could that it was his uniform, and he didn’t wear it for fun! He told us the history of the place. We started in the ‘Crimson Room’, which was completely red, and he told us that this is the room where all the important people from around the world come and have their parties and gatherings, so suddenly it was a huge honour to be in there. We were then shown the ‘Corner Room’, which was like a small room, but with a tall ceiling and a huge fire place with a few seats, just to relax in. All of these rooms were covered with paintings of former Speakers, dating back to the late eighteen-hundreds. We then went to the huge dining room, which was the darkest place; it was covered in a dark green wallpaper and had dim lights. On the huge table proudly stood a candlestick worth over £1 million! Lastly we went to a small room, which had a bed in the middle of it, which was quite random but had an amazing story to it. Our tour guide told us all about how they had managed to lose it, and how it had turned up in a house where a woman had delivered 10 children in it, which was a bit disconcerting! As the tour wrapped up, we were given a chance to ask any questions we wanted and that was interesting. All in all it was a very interesting and mind-opening trip.

Kathryn, Year 13