My day with Gerry Sutcliffe MP

Tahir Shah, age 18, from Bradford, recently shadowed Gerry Sutcliffe, a minister in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as part of The Youth of Today's ministerial shadowing programme. Here are his thoughts from the day:

“I reached Gerry Sutcliffe’s office at 11am, still tired from the train journey. I was introduced to both of his secretaries and the first thought that came into my head was, “wow he has two sectaries”.

Jerry took me to a meeting about illegal file sharing, which was really interesting. Then we walked over to the House of Commons, which is really big in real life, and I met Jack Straw. He is much funnier in real life than he is on TV!

I spoke to so many influential and important people, and they all seemed to have been through the struggles that I am going through as a student. But they all told me that the problems and issues that I go through now will all be worth it in the end.

The most surprising thing about the minister’s work is the amount of traveling he has to do. Because he lives in Bradford and works in London he has to travel back and forth from Monday to Thursday which can be really frustrating.

During the day I learnt some more communication skills. I hardly speak with adults in a relaxed and friendly environment.  But regardless of how difficult it would be to talk to some of the ministers, I soon learnt that I can have the same jokes and talk the same way to my friends and the minister. So it just goes to show that age doesn’t really matter and you can talk and communicate with anyone and make friends with anyone out there.”

Aged 13-19? Interested in shadowing a government minister? Apply now.