Dale How to Be a Parliamentary Researcher

1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-84954-973-8
Verlag: Biteback Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 288 Seiten

To some, they are the graduates grasping the first rung on the ladder to power, to others, the unsung heroes of the British parliamentary system. But whether your notion of parliamentary researchers is more The Thick of It than The West Wing, more Yes Minister than House of Cards, there is no doubt that these individuals play an essential role in keeping the giant (and, let's be honest, slightly creaky) machine that drives British politics from juddering to a halt. Branded bag-carriers while actually performing vital duties like drafting speeches and Parliamentary Questions, handling the media and engaging with constituents online, parliamentary researchers do the dirty work behind the scenes, allowing their bosses to focus on their main job - performing. With the help of case studies and guest writers, Robert Dale, himself a former parliamentary researcher, tells the fascinating story of how the MP's office has developed over recent decades, and combines practical advice with acute personal observations on how to get ahead as a researcher. If you're a graduate looking to take your first step into politics, or simply interested in the job around a third of our current Cabinet had before becoming an MP, How to Be a Parliamentary Researcher offers a compelling insight into how the British political system really operates.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dale, Robert

Leseproben

Introductions

I’VE WORKED FOR MPs in Parliament and the constituency, so when I was elected I had a good idea of the kind of team I wanted. Arriving mid-way through a parliament, we needed to hit the ground running.

Robert Dale worked with me in my previous job. He had no experience of Parliament but I knew he would be loyal, entrepreneurial in the role and learn quickly how to be a parliamentary researcher. We walked into Parliament together and, from the first day to the last, we were a team. Rob became, in my biased opinion, the best parliamentary researcher an MP could wish to have at their side. From running the Westminster office, to supporting my response to a government Bill, showing my constituents around the parliamentary estate and representing me to journalists, I knew I could trust Rob, no matter what the task, to get it done to an impressively high standard.

Rob and I share a passion for digital technology and social media. Working together, we pushed at every opportunity to introduce new ideas and ways of working to improve levels of engagement with the electorate. We crowd-sourced speeches, produced a fantastic e-newsletter and ran surveys that interacted with thousands of people. I’m pleased to see Rob highlight throughout this book the important role digital communication will play in Parliament in the future.

An MP relies massively on the support, talents and dedication of their staffers. My team in the constituency were brilliant too. Alan, Lynsey, Colleen and Ian worked hard every day and provided a service that helped thousands of people in Corby and East Northamptonshire. We learnt the hard way that, in an ultra-marginal seat, even with a good local reputation, you can’t hold back a national swing, but we are very proud of the work we did together.

There is no official training service or manual for new staffers. For parliamentary researchers this is made worse by the fact that many of them are an MP’s only member of staff in Westminster. That is why this book is so important. It is full of insider knowledge, innovative ideas and practical advice that any current or aspiring parliamentary researcher should read and absorb.

Andy Sawford

MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire 2012–15

• • •

I HAD A very special two and a half years in Parliament. My first day as a parliamentary researcher, Monday 19 November 2012, began by walking through the public entrance of Portcullis House at the side of my newly elected boss, Andy Sawford, who had just won Labour’s first by-election gain from the Conservatives in seventeen years.

Andy and I were met by one of the House’s top officials, taken along the ‘Bobby Kennedy’ route through the underbelly of the parliamentary estate (it’s called the ‘Bobby Kennedy route’ because it takes you through the Portcullis House kitchens in a scene very similar to where the candidate for the Democrat presidential nomination was assassinated) to the Pass Office where we collected our official ‘passholder’ accreditation.

From there, we went for a short meeting with the then Clerk of the House of Commons, Sir Robert Rogers, and next to the Whips’ Office to be welcomed into the Parliamentary Labour Party. That afternoon, we were joined by some of the most loyal and active members of the by-election campaign. Together we sat in the special gallery above the Commons chamber and watched as Andy was sworn in to become the Member of Parliament for Corby and East Northamptonshire.

My final day in the role ended at 6 a.m. on Friday 8 May 2015 as I, along with Andy’s friends, family and local party members, fought back the tears and applauded him as he drove out of the Lodge Park Sports Centre car park, where the general election count had just taken place. We were optimistic going into the count and the national polls looked good for us, but we knew it would be close. Unfortunately, despite all our best efforts, the electorate swung away from us and our long-term aspirations came to an abrupt end.

In the time between these two dates, I saw an MP’s office develop from nothing to become an organisation that helped over 6,000 constituents. In Parliament, Andy went from a rookie backbencher to a highly regarded shadow minister. He led the opposition’s response to a government Bill and introduced three significant Private Members’ Bills of his own – on zero-hours contracts, strengthening the Gangmasters Licensing Authority and permitting a public rail operator. Working together, Andy, myself and the constituency staffers created an engaging digital presence and an e-newsletter with one of the highest subscriber rates of any MP, and nurtured an excellent relationship with our local media. Most importantly, we worked hard every day to earn the trust of the electorate and demonstrate that not all MPs are the same.

I didn’t study politics at college or university; the language and processes of Parliament were a completely new language and culture to me. Fortunately, the by-election that brought Andy to the Commons was so high profile that most MPs and their parliamentary researchers had been drafted to visit the constituency at some point to help. This was the perfect icebreaker and meant I could approach most people, strike up a conversation and ask for their advice as I tried to learn the ropes.

Even on the first day Andy was receiving messages from constituents asking for his help with various casework issues. As I was his only member of staff for the first few weeks I had to quickly find a way of responding to these people and assisting Andy in taking up their cases. In those early days I spent a great amount of time knocking on the doors of neighbouring MPs’ offices to seek the advice of their staff.

At the same time, we were trying to organise a permanent office in the parliamentary estate, set up email and phone accounts, order stationery, find and open a constituency office, employ an office manager and caseworker to work in it, arrange help and advice surgeries and visits to local schools and businesses, meet with journalists and, of course, hit the ground running inside the Commons.

There is no guide or official induction for these first few weeks. After the welcome meetings with the clerk and the whips, new MPs – and their parliamentary researcher if they have one at this early stage – are, mostly, left to find their feet and fight for their place. As one former parliamentary researcher says, ‘Your first few days in Westminster are sink or swim.’ We were fortunate – at least we were given a temporary office at the beginning. Spare a thought for the new MPs after each general election who spend their first month hot-desking across the different canteens within the parliamentary estate. Kate Green, elected MP for Stretford and Urmston in 2010, said, ‘In thirty years of working life, I have never found myself in such an alien working environment. Not having an office for the first several weeks left me totally disoriented, unable to focus on getting to grips with the job, and very stressed.’1

While all this meant those early weeks were tough and exhausting for Andy and me, they were hugely exciting too. Each day brought new challenges, new places inside Parliament to find, new people to meet and new things to learn about the ways and workings of the Palace of Westminster.

As Mr Speaker points out in his foreword, every MP is different, and so too is the set-up of their staff. This means there isn’t a definitive template for how a parliamentary researcher should do their job. It is for the MP to set the tone for where they want their staffers’ focus and priorities to be – building their media profile, writing speeches, tabling Questions, responding to constituents’ emails or giving them tours of Parliament, finding out the latest gossip going round the staff bar or running their social media accounts. In reality, the job of the parliamentary researcher is to do a bit of all of these tasks, always and constantly.

With these roles comes great responsibility. The majority of MPs will have worked hard for many years, sacrificed a lot of time with their family and spent a significant amount of money to be elected. They then must hand over huge amounts of their life to their staffers, who will run their diary, guide them on what to say and take actions on their behalf with thousands of constituents, journalists, businesses and charities.

Anyone who works for an MP, either in Parliament or in the constituency office, should be hugely proud of the work they do. Looking at each day individually, it may not seem like much is achieved – indeed, a good day is often judged to be so if you leave the office no further behind on work than you were when you walked in that morning.

But take a step back and look at things in the longer term. Across the country, staffers are connecting hundreds of thousands of people with their MP in a way that has never happened before. Whether it’s dealing with casework or organising a jobs fair, responding to waves of policy-lobbying campaign emails or running an MP’s Facebook page, staffers are playing a hugely important role in taking the MP from being a distant figure in the Commons to one that constituents can know, follow and feel engaged with.

I had the privilege of working for a boss that valued his staff and cared for us. I believe we, in response to this, showed the loyalty and commitment an MP needs in order to focus on best serving their constituents. Unfortunately, as Chapter 3 of this book will demonstrate, not all MPs are great team...