When Scott Colvin first walked through St Stephen’s Gate, into Westminster’s Great Hall – where King Charles I stood trial – and then stood in parliament’s famous octagonal Central Lobby, with its leather benches and mosaic-covered vaulted ceiling, he knew he wanted to have a career in politics. He was in his early twenties and had landed – “by fluke” – a research job working for his local Eastbourne MP, Nigel Waterson. 

“I was interested in politics without having studied it,” says Colvin in his Aviva office in the City. “I had sent out 100 CVs to people and something made me fire off a CV to my MP. Only three people responded. Nigel was one of them. I went to see him and he said, ‘Look, I could give you some work experience, you could see if you enjoy it.’ It’s really strange but that first day in Westminster, it hit me like a flash: I suddenly knew what I wanted to do with my career.”

Some 25 years later, after prepping and training senior British CEOs and executives for over 120 Select Committee hearings, as well as writing the book How to Survive a Select Committee, Scott Colvin is regarded as one of the UK’s leading in-house directors of public affairs, heading up a public policy team of nearly 25 at insurance giant Aviva. More informally, he also hosts an influential WhatsApp group of public affairs directors of leading UK companies, where topics like “Who’s going to …