PREPPING FOR DEBATE 2017: THE BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY STYLE

By Anonymous -


The past few days since 3rd of July sees our fellow Honnets training for the Debate Competition of 2017. This training is overseen by Mr Bakhtiar, who guides the Honnets into improving their presentation skills and confidence for the upcoming debate.

Before training began, the Honnets were introduced to the format preferred by many debate competition known as the British Parliamentary Style. What is a British Parliamentary (BP) style Debate?



A BP debate, which lasts five or seven minutes, consists of two sides: The Government and The Opposition. The all sides are split into four factions:

1. Opening Government (first faction):

  1. Prime Minister
  2. Deputy Prime Minister

2. Opening Opposition (second faction):

  1. Leader of the Opposition
  2. Deputy Leader of the Opposition

3. Closing Government (third faction):

  1. Member of Government
  2. Government Whip

4. Closing Opposition (fourth faction):

  1. Member of Opposition
  2. Opposition Whip


Two groups of Honnets take turns to either be the Government or the Opposition. Mr Bakhtiar picks a topic, and the Government must make points supporting the topic while the Opposition, as its per name, must make points supporting against it. Speaking alternates downwards between the opposing sides, starting from the Prime Minister to the Leader of the Opposition all the way down to the closing Whips.


The first days of debate training starts off awkwardly as the Honnets stumbles and struggles in their presentation. But the following days, the Honnets began to pick up speed as they debate vigorously and passionately on various topics as chosen by Mr Bakhtiar.

The topics range from something light such as “Should homework be introduced into schools?” to heavier subjects such as politics and capital punishment. The challenge to some Honnets is to create points supporting or opposing the topic, despite not agreeing with topic given.


But the greatest lesson isn’t just the presentation skills or the exchange of knowledge; it’s also learning the value of teamwork as each Honnet from either side helped find facts about the chosen topics while giving moral support to their teammates.


Through their determination, Honsbridge hopes that this training will bring victory to the upcoming debates and also face challenges when sitting for the IGCSE.
Goodspeed and good luck, Honnets!

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