Whilst it is always an honour to visit the Houses of Parliament, visiting on a day when the world is watching felt particularly special and exciting for three of our directors!

Greg Ellison, Werner Alberts and Antony Kelsey were there on 4 September 2019 to attend a gala evening event to launch the 2019 Parliamentary Review. It was an eventful day for politicians and as the three directors entered the Palace of Westminster, Philip Hammond MP rushed past them (without his whip)!

The directors asked whether the persistent ringing bell in the corridor was a fire alarm practice and the polite response clarified it was the bell indicating that it was time for MPs to vote in the house. Of course 4th September 2019 was the day MPs backed a bill aimed at blocking Boris Johnson’s possible no–deal Brexit strategy!

At the launch evening there were a number of speeches including from gold medal winning heptathlete, Denise Lewis OBE, who spoke on leadership, as well as from the journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil. Mr Neil opened his speech by screwing up his planned speech so that he could, in his words, tell the audience “My take on what is going on!”. A rare opportunity to get a real insight into the political wrangling of the moment!

It was an engaging and exciting evening as well as a chance for the directors to learn more about the Parliament Review publication. Each of the Parliamentary Review editions focuses on a key governmental policy area, with a variety of organizations sharing personal insight alongside cabinet ministers, government agencies, associations and trade bodies. We were delighted that Group CEO, Greg Ellison was able to author an article for the 2019 review.