By Mrs Cruse (Teacher of History, Politics and Head of Years 7 and 8)

On Friday 24th February, our Sixth Form Politics students were incredibly lucky to have an insightful discussion and Q&A with former Conservative Cabinet Minister, David Gauke.

A political commentator for the New Statesman, solicitor and former politician under Theresa May’s government, David delivered a fascinating talk about his political career during Brexit. The students listened to him explain his role as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice between 8th January 2018 and 24th July 2019 and then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from June 2017 to January 2018. 

David also explained the role of a Cabinet Minister, the way the Ministerial Code works and how his day-to-day role changed when he served under former Prime Ministers, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. He openly explained why he chose to stand as an Independent candidate in 2019.  

Alexa Coles (Lower Sixth) reflected: “I found the talk really enlightening on how the Theresa May minority government worked. The insight about how closely the Ministerial Code was followed and applied was really interesting and beneficial to the current part of the specification we are looking at. The different politics speakers the school have brought in this academic year have been extremely helpful as they have all provided lots of information on different careers and pathways in politics.”

Alice Hartshorn (Upper Sixth) added: “It was really useful to hear from David Gauke on the details of working in the Cabinet. I found his comments on the strengths and weaknesses of different governments over the last few years particularly interesting. I also found it very useful to hear Mr Gauke’s insight on the current government and future movements of political parties on the political spectrum. It has been really interesting to listen to the different perspectives of the political speakers we have heard from throughout the year.”