A Lesson to Remember

On Thursday 1st February, Conservative Councillor Rehman Chishti gave a talk to my A level Government & Politics class.

The Conservative A-lister talked about the Conservative Party structure and candidacy procedures, before answering questions about life as a Conservative Councillor and current issues in the world.

My Politics class taught by Mr. De Groot (photo: right) and Mrs. Humphry, consists of only seven people. However, those seven people cover a wide range of ideologies.

There is a Conservative sympathiser, a BNP sympathiser, a Communist, a member of the Labour Party and myself, a Conservative Party member.

Despite this, Cllr Chishti managed to impress everyone with his enthusiasm and energy, even if his views were not unanimously agreed on.

On the Medway Council Conservatives website, Cllr Chishti, who represents Gillingham North Ward, commented:

The breadth of knowledge and standard of questions that came from the students was extremely impressive – I would not be surprised if we had a future Conservative MP or two amongst their ranks. I wish them the very best of luck with whatever career they go in to. It was good to be able to explain about what makes one want to stand as a councillor and go into politics. I think we both learnt a lot from the lesson today.

Next to visit is a Liberal Democrat representative. Paul Clark was supposed to have visited yesterday, but due to the weather, only two people were in school.

His visit will be rescheduled, but whenever it is, I have a feeling he won’t be as well accepted, nor will he impress as much, as Cllr Chishti.