Hello everyone,
We spent plenty of time at Westminster again this week and we have been briefing MPs – but how does that happen and what does it mean?
The first task is to get time in the diary with some of the hardest working people in the country and that is usually done by firstly contacting and then building a relationship with the MP’s ‘staffer’ (a widely-used term for a member of their team).
The staffer can suggest a date and time to meet. The default length of time for the meeting is always 30 minutes, and the most usual location is Portcullis House where many MPs have their offices, just across the road from the House of Commons. The actual location for the meeting is usually the atrium, a cavernous space, filled with chairs, tables, sofas and people, plus a canteen and tea bar.
Once the meeting has been set up we produce a briefing document to send to the MP and their staffer ahead of time that outlines the brain tumour research landscape, our policy asks and crucially is individually crafted to reflect any areas we know that are of particular interest to the Parliamentarian with whom we are meeting. This could be Health, Science, Economics or anything else that we determine could be used to engage quickly and effectively but always related to our campaigning priorities.
This document will help begin the conversation, but as the meeting progresses and we answer the questions asked of us, we will move onto our own asks and actions because, if things have gone well, we would like to continue the conversation and have that MP as a Parliamentary Champion, willing to ask questions on our behalf and take forward the brain tumour cause. The asks and actions may be very specific or more general, again based on what is said at the meeting.
It is really important for us to listen as well as talk and the 30 minutes inevitably flies by.
We are having a number of briefing meetings at the moment (the above photograph was taken on Wednesday as Jana and Hugh met Milton Keynes Central MP Emily Darlington – Brian Tumour Research’s offices are in Emily’s constituency). June is shaping up to be a busy time with a lot going on at Westminster and we need to make sure the case for Brain Tumour Research’s campaigning priorities is heard loud and clear.
The first key event at Westminster in June is the meeting of the APPG on 2nd June at 17:30 in the Wilson Room of Portcullis House. If you would like to join that meeting, please let us know so we can manage numbers and send you an agenda.
Before the hurly-burly of June, Westminster has gone into recess for a week and your campaigning update is doing likewise.
So, we will be back again on Friday 5th June and we wish you all a peaceful time until then.
Karen, Hugh, Katherine and Jana
Published Friday 22nd May 2026
