Paul Rochford
MSc in International Relations (1984)
MPhil in International Relations (1994)
Paul Rochford received his MSc in IR from LSE in 1984. He is currently Havering Council Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services.
I am currently Council Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services, having since 2002 held a variety of portfolios including Community Safety and Trading Standards, Environment and Economic Regeneration. All have been extremely interesting. Local Government provides a variety of challenges particularly in the present economic circumstances. I was elected in 1998 for Emerson Park in Havering and have had the pleasure to represent it ever since.
I very much enjoyed taking international structure classes for the department’s undergraduates when studying for my MPhil. Since leaving the School I have lectured at one or two Universities and Colleges.
The Department was always stimulating and the School was a great environment to be in, with many interesting speakers visiting from all over the world. To this day I remember having the opportunity of hearing Sir Karl Popper. I have since read a few of his works and I now realise how lucky I was to see him. Within the Department itself it was always great to hear Philip Windsor and Christopher Coker.
I certainly look back and reflect on the great deal that I was taught and I am sure it has been useful in many ways, some of which I now understand .