My work experience with Bobby Dean
by Shourya Gupta
My week working with Bobby Dean MP’s team was an extremely interesting and valuable experience, giving me a much better understanding of what happens behind the scenes in an MP’s office. I particularly enjoyed how welcoming and engaging the whole team was, and the variety of work allowed me to experience several different aspects of politics, such as casework, communications, campaigning and Parliament.
One of the most interesting parts of the week for me was personal casework with Sarah. Before this experience, I had not realised how significant a role personal casework plays in an MP’s office or how much time is spent helping constituents with individual and often complex problems. Looking through cases and considering how the office could respond showed me that an MP’s role extends far beyond what we normally see in Parliament. I particularly enjoyed seeing how individual cases required different approaches and how important it was for responses to feel personal, understanding and genuinely useful to the constituent. I also learnt much more about how an MP’s office operates as a team.
On the first day, we were introduced to Bobby’s diary and calendar and how responsibilities are divided across the office by Julie, including casework, communications, research and administration. Seeing the amount that has to be coordinated gave me a new appreciation of how demanding an MP’s schedule can be and how important the wider team is in allowing an MP to effectively represent their constituents.
Communications was another part of the experience that I particularly enjoyed with Matt. I was given the opportunity to produce a press release by watching a Treasury Committee meeting and summarising Bobby’s views, as well as work on a social media post, which made me think about how the same political issue can be communicated differently depending on the audience and platform. It challenged me to make information engaging while still keeping the key political message clear and professional. During the week, I also worked on campaign and policy correspondence with Abraham and Chante.
For campaign casework, we examined examples of issues that large numbers of constituents might contact an MP about and practised drafting an appropriate response using the structure followed by the office. Comparing this with more individual policy and personal correspondence helped me understand how important it is to adapt both the content and tone of a response. Some issues can be addressed through a broader campaign response, whereas others require much more personal consideration of an individual’s circumstances. A major highlight of the week was visiting Parliament with Julie and Abraham.
We toured Westminster and visited both the House of Commons and House of Lords, including the Aye and No voting lobbies. I found the House of Lords particularly awe-inspiring because of its grandeur and gold. Being able to walk through places that I had previously only seen through television and the news gave me a greater appreciation of the history and traditions surrounding Parliament.
I also had the opportunity to speak to Bobby himself, where we could ask questions about his life as an MP and his journey to get to where he is, as well as any skills he developed. He explained how his journey into politics was actually somewhat unpredictable and that we should take any opportunities that life throws at us instead of trying to follow a rigid plan, which reassured me. He also shared some very interesting life experiences which I loved hearing more about.
Overall, the week gave me a much broader understanding of what being an MP actually involves. Before the experience, much of my perception of politics came from Parliament, the media and social media. I now appreciate how much of an MP’s work takes place away from the public eye, particularly through helping individual constituents, communicating with the community and managing a huge variety of local and national issues. I am very grateful to Bobby and the entire team for being so welcoming and for taking the time to explain their work throughout the week. The experience has strengthened my interest in politics and given me a much clearer understanding of what working within it is really like.
