The next day was the conference which consisted of a series of talks given by leading figures from Politics and Business all of whom were involved in working with the European Union. The highlight of the morning for the girls was the talk given by the marketing manager of ‘Innocent Smoothees’ in which he outlined the branding strategy of this highly successful and ethical company. A number of Tormead girls have already emailed him with questions and enquiries about working for the company in their gap years.

In the afternoon the conference ended with a Question Time panel hosted by the ex BBC news correspondent John Sergeant. On the panel were Patricia Hewitt ex Cabinet Minister and MP, Caroline Lucas MEP, Tim Hanes from The Times and Michael Portillo TV presenter and ex Cabinet Minister and Lembit Opic MP. After a fascinating range of questions which entertained and interested all of the Tormead Sixth Formers (so much so that even as the Conference overran they all wanted to stay to hear the final answers from the panel).

At the end of the conference several of the girls studying Politics stayed to talk to Michael Portillo about his conference lecture and a range of other questions concerning the future prospects and current strategy of the Conservative Party and David Cameron. The girls spent nearly twenty minutes discussing these and related issues – a wonderful opportunity to hear the views of someone who is still obviously in touch with key personalities and debates in British and European Politics.