Amplify Stroud meets Dr Simon Opher in Westminster
Alex: It was a grey and bitter Tuesday morning in February when we shuffled into the railway station, hoping to trade the Cotswold rolling hills for the bejewelled chandeliers of the Houses of Parliament. As young journalists from Stroud, both Alyssa and I jumped at the opportunity to spend a day shadowing Stroud's newest MP Simon Opher in Parliament.
Armed with my undergraduate degree in Politics, I had some background knowledge about the broad machinations of British democracy, but the antiquated customs of the Commons and the delightfully bizarre world of political manoeuvring are all very new to me.
I had met Simon before whilst interviewing him during the 2024 election campaign, but the hazy summer days of last July feel like a lifetime ago. How has our town-doctor-turned-politician managed his head-spinning career change?
What are the important local issues that he’s concerned about, alongside national and international policy?
And what on earth does he do in Westminster?
Channelling our inner Dick Whittington, we successfully navigated the snaking maze of the Underground and found ourselves at Westminster station, with the heart of British democracy towering over us. It was time for us to find out.
Alyssa: Once we had emerged from Westminster underground station and, after a few tries found the right door, we entered Portcullis House and I think it’s safe to say that I was taken aback.
It was a world away from the Stroud District Council offices housed at Ebley Mill where I have spent many hours as the Chair of the Stroud District Youth Council, the main youth voice organisation in the District and the only youth council in Gloucestershire.
We made our way through the airport-level security checks to meet Tim Davies, Simon Opher’s Chief of Staff, who led us to the entrance of the labyrinthine Palace of Westminster.
We were now walking through the more familiar limestone tunnels which I had visited as a young GCSE Politics student.
After testing the knowledge of more than one security guard as to the layout of the building, we made it to the Central Lobby where we met up with Simon at last.
Peeking into the Commons
Alex: Next on our whistle-stop tour of Parliament, we followed Dr Opher into the public viewing area of the Commons chamber, perching above the cramped green benches and wooded despatch boxes below.
The lively debate around healthcare brought up many of the key issues we’re all sadly familiar with - the long waits for A&E, NHS delays, and the Kafka-esque bureaucratic minefield of trying to book a GP appointment.
It was almost surreal seeing the magnates of British politics like Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner in the flesh rather than captured through grainy TV cameras or floating below newspaper headlines.
An intervention by one such infamous figure did turn my Commons experience slightly sour. MP Lee Anderson, "30p Lee" - Reform’s chief whip and culture warrior, was permitted by House Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to put a question to Health Secretary Mr Streeting.
Graeme Demianyk
Did he use this enviable opportunity to relay concerns from his constituents that he’s duty-bound to represent, or maybe challenge the government on the specificities of their plans for healthcare reform?
No.
In a swaggering and mocking tone, he decided to wade into cruel anti-transgender bigotry, claiming that people now “present” as llamas, and postulating whether “if I have a family member who presents as a llama and suddenly becomes ill in the middle of the night, should I send for a doctor, a vet or a straitjacket?”
To be clear, this isn’t just ‘offensive’ - it’s downright disturbing that elected politicians use the halls of democratic power like playground bullies to mock and trivialise medically and legally vulnerable social minorities, rather than discussing tangible solutions to the national healthcare crisis that affects us all.
Maybe I’m missing the joke. Or maybe, as a transgender person constantly battling to access NHS care and who’s faced legal, professional, and social discrimination for simply being who I am, I just don’t find it that funny.
Eli Parry
The experience left a bitter taste in my mouth, but one that would be a little bit sated once we traipsed under cavernous carved ceilings and past stern statues back to Portcullis House for lunch.
Alyssa and I were both quietly enamoured by what can only be described as the world’s poshest canteen. Featuring hot dogs with shredded pork and elaborate garnishes for only a few quid, no wonder you don’t see MPs dashing out in the cold for a Tesco meal deal.
The pace of life in Parliament feels relentlessly swift and everyone there seems keenly conscious of their surroundings, as hundreds of suited journalists, policymakers and well-groomed bureaucrats hunched over laptops and conversed in hushed voices around us.
There is a heady and intoxicating air of importance and urgency.
Yet throughout the day, we were pleasantly surprised by Simon’s unpretentious and friendly demeanour, greeting nearly everyone we passed as we returned our lunch trays and again darted off down yet another corridor.
Simon’s Work as an MP
Alyssa: Since being elected, Simon Opher has made every intention of improving legislation by listening to those whose voices are often excluded from the discussion.
This is a crucial part of the job role which goes hand-in-hand with his career as a GP who has lived and worked in Dursley for 30 years and, despite having a heavy workload in London, still practices at least once a month.
His role as an MP has given him a much deeper understanding of the issues that our NHS is facing and he is the only MP with current working experience in palliative care, as he mentioned in an article he wrote in the Stroud Times.
Dr Simon Opher MP
By living in the constituency that he represents I think we can all be much more confident that he will be able to advocate for what Stroud residents believe in - unlike the previous Conservative MP who lived forty miles from Stroud in the Witney constituency.
On top of his extensive experience of working within the NHS, Dr Opher has played a key role in pioneering social prescribing in Gloucestershire, whichhas the potential to reduce appointment waiting times and aims to give more effective treatment for health problems that may be primarily social or emotional rather than defaulting straight to drug-based therapy.
In 2013 Artlift became a registered charity after Simon Opher recognised that many patients suffering with stress and anxiety who were referred to creative activities run by an artist in residence at his surgery experienced significant improvements in mental wellbeing and ended up requiring fewer GP appointments.
Artlift participant
The classes provided by Artlift are heavily personalised to meet the needs of patients and usually involve a small group of up to twelve people focusing on supporting the mental wellbeing of everyone in the group rather than the specific condition that they themselves have, forming a safe space for people to connect and create.
More recently, Dr Opher has brought up a similar initiative in the Commons which proposes “comedy on prescription” with the aim of reducing the number of antidepressants that are prescribed, especially for cases of mild to moderate depression.
Some antidepressants are associated with increased risks of suicide especially when patients are trying to wean themselves off them.
During the same debate he described the current situation as a “pandemic of over prescription”, where 8.7 million people are currently on antidepressants, which in many cases may be unnecessary and could be treated non-medically through community projects.
The End of Life Bill Committee
This was the main reason for our visit and arguably the most important piece of legislation that Dr Opher is currently working on. Our MP is a member of the panel scrutinising the End of Life Bill which is a significant piece of work and comprises highly emotionally-laden elements of healthcare, personal dignity and human rights.
Alex: In the afternoon, Alyssa and Tim and I shuffled quietly in to observe a cross-party parliamentary committee Simon is sitting on, discussing the End of Life Bill to introduce assisted dying in England and Wales for terminally ill adults.
BBC News
This controversial piece of legislation magnetises strong feelings across the political spectrum, and crammed up alongside other members of public on the cheap seats, we watched as the tense debate unfolded.
Is there really a moral difference between allowing patients to refuse medication and actively helping them to die?
The private members bill sponsored by MP Kim Leadbeater has attracted plenty of media controversy. It has also reignited a national conversation about dignity in death and the rights of ill and disabled people as well as society’s responsibilities towards them.
This particular scrutiny committee isn’t partisan, meaning that MPs can discuss and raise issues and raise concerns in line with their own personal views rather than being forced to follow a strict party line.
The knotty moral complexities of the legislation are not easily untangled, as the Chair often intervened to ask MPs to use correct parliamentary procedure, such as not addressing their fellow MPs directly but rather directing their comments towards the Chair himself.
The emphatic dedication to order and tradition is a staple of parliamentary life, but when wrestling with profound moral questions with drastic personal impact, sometimes it felt a bit ludicrous to cling to formalities at the expense of uninhibited and frank discussion.
Instead, opponents of the End of Life bill have tabled many hundreds of amendments that must be individually examined and discussed for the legislation to progress.
Given the social and moral stakes if the assisted dying bill came into force, being ruthlessly precise and cautiously analytical is warranted. That said, there was more than a hint of filibustering in the room, with lengthy interventions and the constant revival of well-rehearsed talking points derailing the discussion.
For the hour or so we were there, Dr Opher kept his interventions short and precise, helping to keep the prickly committee meeting moving forward.
Youth Politics from Stroud to Westminster
Alyssa: It seems to be that everything stems from politics, but young people have very little power to change anything. I am very lucky to live in Stroud and have the opportunity through Stroud District Youth Council to have a voice, be heard, and to have an input on issues that matter to young people across our district.
There are many young people who don’t have a local youth forum or a youth club or an effective school council to represent their views.
Dr Opher has previously supported work done by the Stroud District Youth Council to create an award scheme for GP surgeries as to how “youth friendly” they are.
This has the potential to work in a similar way to food hygiene ratings, with trained Stroud Youth Voice members visiting local GP surgeries and scoring them on different aspects, such as having up to date information on their website and posters, correct training for staff, and short waiting times for booking appointments.
This approach is all about making healthcare more accessible for young people and improving healthcare outcomes – however, like many initiatives – it was put on hold during the Pandemic struck.
Now, there are hopes that it can be revived again.
Westminster Reflections
Alex: Elite and inaccessible institutions like the Houses of Parliament can feel like their own strange little universe. They’re governed by alien rules that constantly bewilder me, like being snapped at by a gold-encrusted porter for wearing a hat indoors, or the sudden ringing of bells that sends MPs scattering down corridors like chucky pigs [woodlice] from an overturned log.
Everywhere you look there are towering tapestries, priceless book collections stacked from floor to ceiling, and countless marbled busts of dead White blokes.
It was some consolation then that Dr Opher was just as bemused as we were and slightly unacquainted with the fineries of Westminster life, regularly poking his head into new rooms and asking staff whether he was allowed to bring us two rural ruffians tailing behind him.
Unlike Stroud’s previous incumbent, whose elusiveness from engaging with their own constituents was the stuff of legend and whose main visible presence in Stroud was from behind a frosted glass wall off the High Street, I was pleasantly surprised to bump into Simon again not one week later, at a pub in Dursley enjoying a pint with his football team after a kickabout.
To be clear, our roles as a journalists, and that of Amplify Stroud more broadly, is not to explicitly support any particular politician or party. Journalists can and should use our skills and platforms to hold elected leaders to account, to speak truth to power and to spotlight the interests and concerns of diverse members of our communities.
For that to be possible, there has to be communication and trust. By inviting two young journalists to venture through Westminster’s imposing gates and by giving us an invaluable insight into his work as an MP, Dr Simon Opher has helped us to prise open the black box of British politics and give us all a peek inside.
Alyssa: Meeting with Simon Opher and his team has given me a hope in politics which I lost a very long time ago.
I have grown up during a time where even the word ‘politics’ is avoided in conversation, where the mainstream news is bursting at the seams with scaremongering and rhetoric that can feel stifling, and where planning for the future - especially as a young person - is undeniably terrifying.
Having someone who tries to represent the people for the good of those people rather than for their own benefit is a hugely positive step in the right direction, and will hopefully lead to more politicians sharing this same mindset.
Dr Opher still made the effort to welcome us to his office in London and sit down to chat with us despite his busy schedule.
Just this shows something about his commitment to our constituency. If you take even just a brief look at his social media accounts you can see how many people he talks to each week to understand their responses to the Bills or initiatives he is supporting.
Alyssa Pearce is an aspiring journalist and current Cirencester college student, she is a contributor at Amplify Stroud and Chair of Stroud District Youth Council.
Alex Parnham-Cope is a young multimedia journalist and media producer from Stroud, he is a founder member and Assistant Editor at Amplify Stroud.
Amplify Stroud is supported by Dialect rural writers collective. Dialect offers mentorship, encouragement and self-study courses as well as publishing.
You can find out more at https://www.dialect.org.uk
Member discussion