Leighton Park School was, on Friday 29th November, delighted to welcome Lord David Owen to deliver a lecture on Britain’s place in Europe. This event commemorated the life of Michael Foot, former Labour Leader and Old Leightonian, and is the second such event held at Leighton Park following a previous address by Lord Kinnock.
A former Neurologist, Lord Owen has an extensive Parliamentary record and was also previously the Labour MP for Plymouth, formerly Michael Foot’s constituency. He served in Labour Governments as Navy Minister, Health Minister and Foreign Secretary and was one of the gang of four who founded the Social Democratic Party. Lord Owen continues to sit in the House of Lords as an independent crossbencher.
On arriving at Leighton Park School, Lord Owen took time to look over the archive records remembering Michael Foot’s time at Leighton Park and dating back to 1927-1931. He met with Leighton Park’s current head boy and head girl, Kit and Jess, and provided some useful career advice to Jess who is considering medical training following her International Baccalaureate.
Lord Owen delivered his lecture to a large audience of students and staff, explaining that Britain’s place in Europe has been a contentious subject for the whole of his political career and an issue which he “does not envisage a resolution for several decades.” An enthusiastic question and answer session followed with students raising many topics from the single European currency to closing European borders.
The last topic raised was perhaps the most interesting and asked if politicians were concerned that young people thought them “out of touch” and felt “ill-equipped with information” on today’s policies. Lord Owen suggested that we do need to look at the voting system but also explained that he does believe we are taking steps towards enfranchising more of the population.
Howard Shaw, Head of Politics at Leighton Park and organiser of the event, ended the lecture by asking students whether we should leave or continue as a member of the European Union or if they required more information. The verdict of this quick poll was that the majority believed we should stay in Europe however a large number of abstentions indicate that there is more to debate on the issue. Leighton Park School would like to thank Lord Owen for his valuable and illuminating lecture.