Current PAIS undergraduate student Alexander Paul gave a speech at the Conservative Party Conference on 30 September on the controversial policing policy of 'stop and search' recently enacted in England and Wales ahead of Theresa May, Home Secretary. Alexander's speech was covered by major news outlets at the time including The London Evening Standard, The Telegraph (you can watch him speak from about 11:25 in the video), and The Guardian.

Alexander gave us an account of his experience at the Conference:

I am Alexander Paul; I am currently studying Politics with International Studies and Quantitative Methods. On Tuesday 30th September I gave a speech about the issue of the disproportionate amount of stop and search routines carried against Black and Asian males at the Conservative Party Conference.

I have been corresponding with Theresa May and her team for the past few months. I first met her at the Home Office with college peers as we were invited to voice our opinions on the contentious issue of the misuse of police powers, especially stop and search. She was astounded by the amount of times I had been searched inappropriately and immediately wanted to bring about a change that would stop this injustice. Ever since then I have had the privilege to maintain a working relationship with her and her team, but also gained great experience that will prepare me for a possible career in politics.

In early September the Home Secretary invited me to give a speech about the issue at the conference, which was held at Birmingham. On the actual day, I was very nervous. The importance of the matter had finally dawned on me. I wanted to evoke a message that would change the perception of many in the audience and wider society as it was very personal to me. However, once I got into my stride, I was confident and fortunately my performances of spoken word had helped me with the problem of speaking in front of large audiences.

I am very proud and honoured to of contributed to pushing the issue of the misuse of stop and search and I am humbled by the amazing response I have received since giving the speech. I hope that this will be a platform for me to become a successful human rights lawyer and voice the opinions of the unspoken.