The Rock Blog

Ben Howlett is a Councillor in Essex & works in the office of Syed Kamall MEP.

I was chatting to an elderly Conservative activist the other week in North London about the MEP that I work for, Syed Kamall MEP. I explained to her what he does and what he does for London. After talking to her for about ten minutes, I handed her one of Syed’s business cards, she glanced at the card, looked up and then down again. She asked, in a particularly confused voice, “so…so your Syed Kamall are you?” I explained to the particularly bemused lady that I am not an MEP, but that I worked for Syed. I ended up chatting to her for around 20 minutes about everything from Thailand to which letter box is best for leaflet distribution. It is a person like this that makes London Conservatives a fantastic place to work.

I heard about Syed whilst I was President of Durham University Conservative Association from Martin Callaghan MEP. He explained that if I intended to move to London, send an email to his colleague Syed Kamall. I sent a cheeky email asking if I could run his campaign for his reselection as MEP, Syed was interested although he didn’t want anyone in particular to run his campaign. I was offered a job working across London informing people what Syed does and what the role of the MEP is in London. I have been working for Syed since July 2007.

It has been tough trying to juggle an MPhil degree at Cambridge University, being a Councillor in Essex and also working for Syed in London, I feel as though I am a nomad sometimes. Nevertheless, I have a brilliant job and I absolutely love it, Syed is honestly one of the best people to work for in the Conservative Party. He works so hard for London and shows such enthusiasm for the job all year around. With a young family, commuting to Europe and still having time to go to coffee mornings as well as campaigning, you have to commend him for the amount of work he does. Anything I can do to help him in London I try to do and it is simply a great job.

Confusion is something that I am there to help to dispel. Syed does much on a daily basis to reduce the confusion of Londoners about the role of the MEP. Whatever an individual’s belief regarding the EU, an MEP’s role is integral to the European legislative process.

As a complete people person, I relish in the opportunity to attend any event, meet new people and inform them of the great job that Syed does. I have met so many people across London, not just in the higher echelons of the London Conservative Party; I have met so many activists who work for the party on the ground. I have met and enjoyed conversations with party activists aged from 14 to 103. These people are simply fantastic. Few other organisations can offer such a wide range of talent.

I hope that gives you a short insight into what it is like to work for an MEP and why I am doing what I do.

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