Alex Garcia Ghuran, a Prep 6 student , was one of the 10 lucky winners of the competition organised by the children's newspaper “First News” to celebrate their 10th Anniversary.  In order to enter the competition, Alex had to send a short video telling what he would say to the Prime Minister if he met him. Alex’s video, together with another nine entries, was selected amongst more than 900 participants. The ten 10-year old winners were invited recently to have a private VIP tour of 10 Downing Street and meet the Prime Minister, David Cameron. The children had the opportunity to ask the PM questions about climate change, refugees, education and the EU and even more personal questions about him and his children.  

As the children were leaving a car pulled up with the Chancellor, George Osborne.  He stopped and talked to the children and then posed for more photos – this time in front of Number 11!

Alex describes his encounter with Mr Cameron as a unique and exciting lifetime experience that he will never forget.

Do read Alex’s personal account of the visit below!

'Hello, my name is Alex Garcia Ghuran and I was one of the lucky winners of the competition organised by First News to celebrate their 10th Anniversary.  The ten of us who won the competition were invited on 20^th April to have a private VIP tour of 10 Downing Street and meet the Prime Minister, David Cameron.  What a fantastic prize and a unique experience!

On 20^th  April, my Mum and I both went to 10 Downing Street. I couldn’t believe I was there. On the outside it was not that big but  inside it was huge. We had a tour guide who showed us different parts of the house such as the dining room, where Mr Cameron has state dinners. We also saw the room that had portraits of Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, where Margaret Thatcher had meetings with other European leaders to try to intimidate them (so we were told). The favourite parts of the tour was when I saw in one of the rooms the Olympic torch which was held by David Beckham during the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games and the 10 Downing Street ghost stories the tour guide told us.

Without a doubt, the highlight of this experience was to meet the Prime Minister. While we were taking pictures in one of the rooms, Mr Cameron came in. I was obviously extremely excited. He sat down with us and we asked him questions about climate change, refugees, education and the EU. The PM was happy to respond to each and every question we asked him, and there were quite a few as we were  very curious! He also asked us interesting questions such as how children can help to change things. I was impressed how approachable he was.

He even showed us, where he lives and where his children play through the window of the room we were in. We also learnt from Mr Cameron that his children do not get to play with any electronic devices on Saturday morning and he will get upset if he catches them breaking the rule. That sounded like my Dad and probably most of the Dads in the UK!!!  After all, besides being the UK Prime Minister, he is also a dad.  Mr Cameron spent a good half an hour chatting and taking photographs with us (much more than I had expected) and then sadly had to leave to his next appointment. But our experience had not finished yet!!

We then moved out the house to take pictures outside the famous 10 Downing Street door. While we were taking photographs, we saw a car coming in our direction. We moved out of the way and out came of the car the Chancellor, George Osborne. He stopped by and asked what was happening and asked us if we wanted to take a picture with him.  Funny enough, he asked us to move in front of his door, Number 11, because he did not want to look “too pretentious” taken pictures in front of 10 Downing Street!

This was one of the best experiences in my life. I had a private tour of 10 Downing Street and I met the UK Prime Minister and the Chancellor. Only a couple days after we met the PM, the President of the USA came to visit the UK. I was amazed to see on TV and in the press that the room where Obama and Cameron met, was the exactly same room where we met the PM. They even sat on the same chairs as we did!! Unbelievable!!

I will always be grateful to First News for keeping me informed of what is happening around the world and more importantly, for providing me with this one in  a lifetime experience that I will never forget.'

Powered by Pressburst | Terms & Privacy