On 6 October 2023, Durham University welcomed back two distinguished alumni for a debate at the Durham Union Society. These were Sir Robert Buckland KC MP, formerly Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Wales, and Huw Merriman MP, the rail minister.
Buckland was the recipient of the first Dean’s Award for becoming the first alumnus to be named a law officer of England and Wales. They returned to debate the topic ‘this house has no confidence in HM Government’. Their opponents were Stephen Kinnock MP, the shadow immigration minister, and Thom Brooks, Professor of law and government at Durham Law School. Each side had a student debater. Brooks and Kinnock’s team won. Both Buckland and Merriman are former union society presidents and have been actively involved in supporting the law school.
