We were ushered upstairs to a beautiful room, set up our cameras, went over the questions we were going to ask with her team and soon after, Jo was in the chair about to face us.
Jo was really lovely and answered all our questions and was very human. She talked about transport, homelessness, education and she gave us some great advice in terms of our future careers.
“Always find the truth – but be careful where you get the truth from,” is what she told us.
Jo was really personable and we asked her questions about her life outside of Westminster.
We found out what newspapers she reads (The Times and the Bury Free Press). She also likes BBC News, Radio 4 the rickshaws in Bury and our biggest scoop was finding out she enjoys eating McFlurrys.
After the interview we went into the public gallery of the House of Commons and listened to a debate and the whole experience has made me engage with politics more and opened my eyes up to the fact that MPs are people.
They get a hard time, there is lots of pressure, they make good decisions and also make mistakes – but like you and I – they are just people at the end of the day.
I’m almost at the end of my course now and this experience has made me realise MPs do care what young people think.
I’m not sure whether I’d like to be a political journalist now, but the highlight of my course was hosting my own TV show.
So who knows, one day in the future I might get the chance to interview Jo again.
If I did, I’d ask her if she still likes McFlurrys.
Jamie said: “It was fascinating meeting Jo and experiencing Westminster. We were given a tour and went to a place called Sat Mary’s chapel where MPs can go and pray. Inside the chapel, there is a small cupboard where the suffragette Emily Davison hid back in 1911 so she could list her address as being the House of Commons in her bid to give women the vote. It was inspiring.
We also went to where the Queen lay in state (Westminster Hall) and saw a big gold carriage on display. We explored tunnels and were able to feel and touch the history of this iconic building. Jo went out of her way to make us feel welcome.
I’m now coming to the end of my course and I’ll be off to University in September. Before this visit, my plan had always been to run social media accounts for celebrities. But after my visit to meet Jo, running social media channels for MPs is a consideration.
I’m going to Jo an email in the future. I think we would make a good team.
The interview with Jo Churchill and information on courses at West Suffolk College can be found by visiting www.wsc.ac.uk