Akhila, 27, Cambridge
Occupation PhD student
Voting record Labour until 2021, then joined the Conservative party
Amuse bouche Akhila used to lead a health thinktank, focused on developing countries, giving young people a platform to get involved in policy
Jude, 54, Cambridge
Occupation PR and communications manager for a charity that supports refugees and survivors of modern slavery and trafficking
Voting record Labour, Labour, Labour, Labour, misguidedly Lib Dem – regretted it, never again
Amuse bouche Took up marathon running in her 50s, the age at which she became “cussed and determined”
For starters
Akhila We both had the vegan curry; it was asparagus and butternut squash.
Jude It was a very coconutty affair.
Akhila Jude is completely vegan, I’m vegetarian, so afterwards I had the creme brulee and Jude had a negroni, if I remember correctly.
Jude Akhila seemed friendly, approachable, a little bit quiet. At one point I thought: “Stop it, Jude – you’re interviewing her.”
Akhila I work in a university so I’m mostly surrounded by people who are on the left. I just felt she’d be a normal person, and she was.
The big beef
Jude She’s super centrist. She voted Labour a lot in the past – we agreed on liking Corbyn. But now she’s active in the Tory party. Obviously, I asked about her rationale. And she talked about changing it from within, wresting it out of the hands of old white men. I think she felt the student Labour activists were very black-and-white, dogmatic, a bit intimidating maybe. That made me cross and a bit frustrated, actually.
Akhila I guess what turned it for me was that the Tories were clear about Brexit – they took a stance. I felt that Labour were always sitting on the fence. Even to this day, I find Keir Starmer very ambivalent. And I agree with Conservative values: being very enterprising, taking care of yourself and your family, being self-sufficient, rather than falling back on the state.
Jude She thought that benefits should only go to people in much greater need than the people who currently get them. I said: “You know, look at the minuscule amount that already desperate people very rarely might game from the system, versus the amount of tax dodges that the very rich get away with every day.”
Sharing plate
Akhila I agree with the principle of stopping the boats, because people should not be risking their lives coming across the Channel. But I would advocate for a different approach – more safe routes, more settlement routes. I politically favour family-based routes. I see the Conservative party as the party of family, so why is that not happening?
Jude It was a relief – I thought we were really going to disagree. She said: “There has to be provision of safe routes. These people are obviously only displaced out of necessity; they’ve experienced trauma” – all arguments I was going to make myself.
Akhila The Refugee Convention was drawn up in 1951, so it may not be fit for purpose now. But I do agree with abiding by international law – the UK is seen as a leader in this. The Conservative party markets itself as the party of the rule of law.
For afters
Jude I just think Brexit is the worst thing that’s happened. I feel ashamed of it, and this country, and everything else. Akhila said it had actually made it easier for her to come to the UK and get on the courses she wanted to do.
Akhila I pointed out how protectionist the EU was. Brexit levelled the playing field. Even applying for research positions was extremely difficult as a non-EU candidate. I agree with the European free trade zone, but as a political union, to exclude the rest of the world – that’s where I have an issue with it.
Takeaways
Akhila I like to hear different viewpoints and I’m open to things. I thought Jude was a bit protected from that. I hope she will keep on engaging with people who don’t think similarly to her.
Jude A lot of her views come directly from whether she has experienced a situation or has a friend who has. I sort of felt: maybe if I took her under my wing we could win her over to the left?
Additional reporting: Kitty Drake
• Akhila and Jude ate at Browns in Cambridge
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