Preparing for your LSE Internship

The Interview

The style of interview for an internship in Parliament will vary quite a lot. You may be interviewed by your parliamentarian or their researcher or both. It may be quite formal with standard interview questions or it could be over afternoon tea in an ornate room overlooking the Thames.

Don’t be offended if your interview is rushed or distracted, you will soon learn that this is the nature of life in Westminster and it bears no reflection on you.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If a researcher is interviewing you it could well be the first time they have recruited an intern so questions from you are welcome.

You are likely to be asked questions about your studies, your political views and your views on current affairs. Make sure you are up to speed with current affairs, at the very least watch the news that morning! If you are an EU or International student parliamentarians will be keen to hear about your experiences at home and views on your own country’s affairs.

Dress code

As with any interview you should dress smartly, certainly NO JEANS OR TRAINERS. We recommend you wear smart trousers and at least a top with a collar for men and smart trouser/skirt and a blouse or dress for women. You should not feel over dressed in a suit.

This is the same for throughout the internship. Every office is different and you will have to use your own judgement as time goes on but always start as smart as possible. Parliamentarians understand that you may have just come from class so are unlikely to expect a suit everyday but you never know where you may end up by the end of the day. If your host invites you along to a ministerial meeting or reception you don’t want to be networking in scruffy clothes.

Getting a parliamentary pass

Not all hosts will be able to provide you with a pass as they are limited per parliamentarian. If you are offered one then you will be provided with a green form. Don’t be afraid to ask for help in completing this as any mistakes will slow down your application significantly. Non-UK citizens or those who have lived at several addresses are likely to take a bit longer so just be patient.

Initial familiarisation.

Before you arrive, check out the UK Parliament website and Working for an MP . UK parliament will help you familiarise yourself with various aspects of Westminster, and W4mp will tell you a lot about the practical aspects of working for a parliamentarian. It also gives details of the different training courses available, including how to get access to and use the parliamentary intranet, which is an indispensable tool which you will need to arrange access to as soon as you can.

You may also want to get involved with the T&G Interns' network, who quite simply provide a support network for interns in Parliament. You can find more information and contact details for them on W4mp. If you become a member, they’ll update you on events and invite you to networking events.

Finding your way around

Here is a link to a map of the parliamentary estate you may find this useful on your first visit.

If you can, ask a colleague to show you round the Parliamentary Estate, especially where the key offices are.

These include:

• Vote Office. This is where you can obtain parliamentary papers, including committee reports, Bills etc. There are Vote Office branches in the Palace, Norman Shaw North, 7 Millbank and 1 Parliament Street.

• Post Office. There are Post Offices in various places but only one where you collect Members’ post, in the Members’ Lobby

• Library. The Library produces a lot of briefing material on legislation, topical issues of concern to MPs and constituents, and more. Much of this is on the Intranet. It also provides newspapers, periodicals and reference material for researchers in the Derby Gate Library, so book a short tour (extension 3666) which will help you use it. The Library’s specialist and reference staff are happy to help you with work for your Member in connection with his/her parliamentary duties, but please don’t ask them for anything in connection with your own dissertations or other academic work – they can’t assist with that.

Etiquette

Some may see the UK Politics as a little old fashion, whether you think this or not it won’t do you any harm to learn the correct mode of address for verbal and written correspondence.

The basics are to address MPs and UK MEPs as Mr or Ms <Surname> and to address Peers as Lord or Lady <Surname>. Many parliamentarians are relaxed about modes of address and will asked you to call them by their first name but you should really wait for them to do so.

For a more in-depth guide to how to address Minister, Peers, MPs, the Judiciary and many more take a look at the Ministry of Justice’s advice page – Forms of address.

Getting up to speed on British Politics

It is very important to keep up to speed with UK politics, there are various ways in which you can do so.

Radio

Try to listen to the Today Programme on BBC radio 4, it’s on every morning between 6-9am and will cover all UK and International affairs. They nearly always have an MP on each morning, so it’s always a good idea to listen out for yours.
If 6am is a but early for you then try listening to Today in Parliament, Yesterday in Parliament and Week in Westminster. As you can probably tell they give full coverage of goings-on in the Westminster village. It may seem a bit dull to begin with but after a while you should find it interesting to learn what the different characters are like in Parliament.

You can listen again to all these programme via the Radio 4 website.

The Press

It’s also important to keep your eye on the British press, Parliamentarians will often write comments, articles or letters for newspapers such as The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent and The Observer on Sunday.

Other websites that you make like to use to keep you up to speed include

PoliticsHome
Pubaffairs
epolitix