Lewis Virgo

BA Politics, Royal Holloway University of London 2016-2019

MSc Elections, Campaigns and Democracy, Royal Holloway University of London 2019-2020

I started studying at Royal Holloway in 2016 for a BA in Politics and since completing that degree I have continued studying here. Recently I have completed my MSc in Elections, Campaigns and Democracy and now I am progressing onto studying for my PhD.

My passion is politics and my focus is on British politics, specifically the British prime ministership and the political executive. I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for a MP both in Parliament and in the constituency office as an Administrative Officer.

It was during my studies that I was able to takes modules that directly touched upon my interests in the British Prime Minister, including ‘Democracy in Britain’ and ‘Leadership, Power and the British Prime Ministership’. Indeed, it was learning more about the British executive, political strategies and carrying out original research that fired my ambition to study on the MSc in Elections, Campaigns and Democracy programme and now further.

For my undergraduate dissertation I carried out my own study of parliamentary questions where I developed and then applied a coding frame in order to analyse what questions MP’s asked to ministers. The main aim was to see the extent to which MPs verbally attack ministers who took a different position to them in the 2016 Brexit referendum. It was also during my undergraduate studies where I was able to carry out my first piece of original research on the Prime Minister, regarding the hiring and firing of ministers by British Prime Ministers since Brown.

Whilst in my MSc dissertation I carried out a study of political party manifestos in the UK from 2005-2019 looking at the number, the specificity, and policy area of pledges.

I am now undertaking a PhD in Politics looking at the speeches of British Prime Ministers under the supervison of Professor Nicholas Allen and Dr Ursula Hackett. 

• British Politics: The Prime Minister, The Cabinet, Parliament, Political Parties, MP’s and Devolution 
• Elections, Electoral Systems and Campaigns 
• Quantitative Methods