The saga of Rory Weal, the teenager who addressed Labour party conference on Monday, continues today after the Daily Mail probed his claim that he owed his ‘entire well-being and that of my family to the welfare state’ a little further. Private schooling aside, Rory certainly made a splash at conference, and he’s not the only teenager to have wowed a party conference. Here we look at other teens who’ve made their mark in recent years.
1) Jessica Lever, Conservative Party conference 2004
A 17 year old speaking at a party conference is one thing but a 17 year old whose great uncle happens to be Thatcher guru Milton Friedman , speaking in their school uniform? That’s going to get you some serious publicity. Lever said that "next year I will be voting for the first time and I will be voting Conservative’’. A stream of interviews followed and since then Jessica’s worked for Tory MP Andrew Mitchell and for CCHQ.
2) Emily Benn, Labour Party conference 2007
A member of the Benn political dynasty, Emily, granddaughter of Tony and niece of former international development secretary Hilary, was always going to go into politics. The address came at the age of 17, after she became the youngest person ever selected as a parliamentary candidate. Undeterred by her loss in the constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham at the 2010 general election, Emily addressed the conference again last year, in a slightly less conventional manner; she appeared to have forgotten her shoes...
3) Annabel Shaw, Conservative Party conference 2009
'Gordon Brown, I want an apology for the debt burden you are passing on to my generation’, said Annabel Shaw, 15. With the general election looming Annabel’s indictment of the debt crisis, that the Conservatives were bringing up at every possible opportunity, was like a dream come true for the party. South Londoner Annabel’s father is former Tory MP David Shaw, who lost his seat in 1997.
4) Lucy Seymour-Smith, Labour Party conference 2005
17 year old Lucy spoke at Labour Party conference in 2005, stating that ‘’I wish to call on the Government to re-double its efforts to create a viable and competitive future for manufacturers throughout the UK." At the time Lucy said ‘"I am not sure what I want to do for a career but I would like to help the party in the future." Lucy now works for a business communications firm.
5) William Hague, Conservative Party conference 1977
Finally, no blog post on teenagers speaking at party conference would be complete without mentioning the original; William Hague. In 1977 the future leader of the party and Foreign Secretary, made his now infamous speech where he quipped ‘half of you won’t be here in 30 or 40 years time’. No teenager can now make a speech at a party conference without the media saying that they’re ‘doing a Hague’.
Will merely reaching the post of foreign secretary be enough for the teenage stars of today’s conferences? We can only wait and see...
Comments
Jane Lennie / September 29 2011 11:19pm
Why do the conservative party girls have hairstyles like Rebekah Brooks? We can't blame William Hague for this!