By Ali Kermalli (Year 12B)

The event was designed to enable younger generations to understand how someone from an ethnic minority might get into politics and we were able to meet three members of parliament, Keith Vaz, Sadiq Khan and Shabana Mahmood who spoke passionately about their experiences while trying to get into politics and inspired us. I found the trip as a whole incredibly inspiring for three main reasons.

First, the Members of Parliament had inspirational stories which helped us realise how lucky we were and the opportunities we have. This was most apparent when we heard about Sadiq Khan. We were inspired by him because his father was a bus driver and he grew up in a council flat Henry Prince Estate in Earlsfield. Now Sadiq Khan is The Shadow Minster of Justice and the Shadow Minister for London.

This inspired me because he made his way right to the top in the field of politics and is in Ed Miliband’s cabinet. He is the most well known Muslim Member of Parliament. It shows us that wherever we are we can make our way to Sadiq Khan’s position with hard work and determination and with hearing this story it has helped enhance that drive to ‘break the glass ceiling’. I was touched by how he strove to work for the betterment of all his constituents regardless of race or religion and used his values to strive for their betterment.

Moreover we were further inspired by Keith Vaz because he was one of the first members of parliament to be of an ethnic minority which made me feel honoured that I was able to meet an important man who has shaped British Politics.

Secondly, we were given some amazing advice which allowed us to help our dreams materialise; everyone wants to become Prime Minster. However before achieving that goal Shabana Mahmood gave us some valuable advice to help make that journey more viable and easier. The five main lessons she taught us were are follows: we should be active, we should be prepared to take a risk, we should join a political party, we should be confident and finally we should take criticism positively. So when Shabana Mahmood said to be active she advised us to take an active role in events like campaigning for example if you have an issue about the foreign policy start a petition or write to the local council asking for change. In order to gain a greater influence on the proceedings inside our nation she recommended that we should all join a political party. In this way along with campaigning we need to take a risk because some opportunities come about only once so it is a risk in itself to take that opportunity and if you don’t succeed then you must take criticism positively.

Lastly we were able to experience what it was like to be in a debate as we were able to sit into a debate of Same Gender Marriage Bill in the House of Lords. This was exciting because as we heard during the session with Sadiq Khan, saw inside the Houses of Parliament when he was elected and to think that we had witnessed a debate inside that building at such a young age filled us with awe. We were able to experience the atmosphere inside the House of Lords first hand viewing the responses illustrated by the members which seemed to give the debate a sense of electricity but at the same time we witnessed how people who strongly disagreed with each other over matters of high importance were able to sit down amicably and will eventually come to a solution, a skill we will all need but at the same time we see a lack of resulting in the increase of conflict in various parts of the world.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the experience at the House of Commons for three reasons. Firstly we were inspired by the stories of the Members of Parliament, secondly we were given valuable advice and lastly we were able to experience a debate with our own eyes. I would like to thank the Hujjat Madressa for allowing us to embark on this journey and in particular the teachers who gave up their time to facilitate this event and all those who made it possible for use to enjoy this experience.

I feel all students who attended got a good insight into the British Political system. We were shown how we could get work experience placements in local authority as well as Parliamentary positions both for short term work experience as well as gap year research placements.

Whilst not all of us will end up with careers in politics, it is important that we have an understanding of how to constructively and proactively engage in politics as members of a religious minority.