Excerpts from a report by John Fullwood, (The full report is in the August 2025 Gazette).
During BCA’s Leicester tournament in March, James Connors approached us with the offer of putting us in touch with the PCC with the view to arranging a friendly match. Peter Hornsby, captain of the Parliamentary chess team, was contacted and a match was scheduled for Monday 9th June at 18.30 in Portcullis House which is adjacent to the Houses of Parliament.
Obviously, we wanted to put out as strong a team as possible, but as the match was only to be an hour long it was, thought that only players in the London area and the South-East would be interested. However, Bill Armstrong from Staffordshire and Gary Hogan from Oxfordshire, who were the team’s strongest players, offered to play.
Having gone through ‘airport style security’, the party of eleven which finally assembled in the reception area of Portcullis House at around 17.30 on 9th June comprised chess players in board order: Gary Hogan; Bill Armstrong; George Phillips; Mark Hague; John Fullwood; Abi Baker. With supporters: Claire Armstrong; IM Chris Baker (no relation of Abi’s); Monique Fare; Lorna Richardson; Lea Ryan.
Previous to meeting up half the party had entered the Palace of Westminster through security at the Cromwell entrance, past the statue of Oliver Cromwell. They then had coffee at the Jubilee Café before security took them through the underground link to Portcullis House.
Chess tables were set up in the central lobby of the grand building and although there were a great number of people passing through and many desks with people going through documents or glued to laptops. We did not feel too disturbed and could concentrate on the games.
John Fullwood, team captain, failed his first task of the evening by losing the toss. So we had to play black on the odd numbered boards. The lineup was:
Board 1. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin (Former Director of Strategy at 10 Downing Street) [2000] v. Gary Hogan [1710] 1-0
Board 2. Bill Armstrong [1591] v. Griff Simon (Parliamentary Assistant to Tahir Ali MP) [1850] 0-1
Board 3. Lord Harry Carter [1825] v. George Phillips [1421] 1-0
Board 4. Mark Hague [1342] v. Alfie Coulstock-Cockeram (Parliamentary Assistant to Sam Carling MP) [1550] 0-1
Board 5. Lord Dafydd Wigley [1500] v. John Fullwood [1252] 0.5-0.5
Board 6. Abi Baker [1040] v. Gordon Philipps (Assistant Director- Strategic Estates) [1400] 0.5-0.5
The result of the match was a 5/1 win for the PCC. Draws on boards 5 and 6 were the only consolation results for the BCA team.
After the match Peter Hornsby and some of the members of the PCC gave us a guided tour of Parliament, going via the underground link. Then through all the lavish corridors to the very impressive Main lobby, surrounded by statues of the patron Saints of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. From here a left turn leads to the House of Commons and a right to the House of Lords.
Then we were taken to the Strangers Gallery of the House of Commons where there was a debate in progress. We watched and listened to democracy in action for around 10 minutes. Experiencing the debates live, we could feel the engagement of the whole chamber and it gave a feeling that the politicians from all parties cared about the issues discussed more than could be appreciated from a soundbite on the news.
Once we had left the Palace of Westminster there was a photo opportunity for the party. Then most of us repaired to the Red Lion pub for a well-earned drink and meal.
The BCA is very grateful to Peter Hornsby and the PCC for inviting us to play them. They certainly gave us a very warm welcome and everyone in our party said how much they had enjoyed the evening.