This was a much anticipated event and the Year 12 students had done their ‘homework’ thoroughly, having planned seven pages worth of questions. 

The Year 12 students assembled in the Sixth Form common room and posed the questions from there, whilst the other Sixth Form Tutor Groups listened or responded remotely via the chat.

Instrumental in facilitating the smooth running of the event was Year 13 student and Head Boy, George Flay, who said, “Having been asked to chair the interview, my role was to follow up his answers with supplementary questions and put forward the questions from those who couldn’t make the Q & A session in person.

The several pages of questions sent in by Year 12 students, distilled down to two sheets, covered topics including COVID-19, climate change, race relations and Brexit, and were answered by Mr Streeter with both the clarity and concision atypical of a politician.  More surprising was his impressive readiness to admit his past shortcomings and learn from mistakes, noting the importance of modernising one’s views and moving with the times.

Each year, as social media makes politics both more accessible and, at the same time, less sophisticated for young people, face-to-face political discourse becomes increasingly essential.  And to remain politically bipartisan, an equivalent discussion will also be held with local Labour candidate, Luke Pollard, when he visits the College on Wednesday, 9 June.”

Caroline Johnson, Associate Leader, said, “The College send our thanks to Sir Gary Streeter for giving up his time to speak to our students, we feel it is very important for their voices to be heard, and Mr Streeter recognises this.  A big thank you also to all students involved in the discussion for being so engaged and formulating challenging questions”.