She is the 12-year-old girl who beat Britain’s most inquisitive journalists to ask David Cameron what he called “the best question” of the general election campaign.
Reema Abdulaziz left the prime minister stumped on BBC Newsround earlier this month when she asked him which politician apart from himself he would pick to win the election and why.
Now the year 7 pupil from Salford, Greater Manchester, has tripped up the London mayor, Boris Johnson. Reema called in to Johnson’s LBC radio show on Wednesday morning to ask him what his biggest mistake in office has been.
“Oh God, thanks a bunch,” Johnson told host Nick Ferrari in reference to Reema’s track record before naming his scrapped plans for a Thames Gateway bridge.
“There was a huge bridge which we decided not to go ahead with because it would have destroyed lots of communities in south-east London. What we should have done is gone ahead with a series of smaller bridges. But the good news is we’re doing that, Reema. We’re now going ahead with a series of beautiful bridges which will really transform the area,” he replied.
So what inspires this wunderkind? “I like politics a lot, I talk about it with my family. I like society and talking about how to make it better,” Reema told the Guardian, adding that interviewing Cameron and Johnson was fun because she “quite liked their answers”. “I thought they’d give a small answer and move on to the next person, but they didn’t,” she said.
Reema is a student at the Oasis Academy MediaCityUK in Salford, a non-selective school for children and young people which is currently under special measures. She was born in Sweden to Iraqi parents before moving to London and then to Manchester. She grew up in Moss Side but moved away from the area because she was bullied.
She was hand-picked as part of a small group of students to take part in a question-and-answer session with Cameron at her school earlier this month, and made headlines when she asked the prime minister her question.
Cameron was caught on camera fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat before responding: “Obviously, if I thought someone else should win the election, I wouldn’t be standing myself.
“So I think I can’t really answer the question about who else I’d like to win. There are lots of candidates around the country I’m very enthusiastic about. I think I’m afraid it’s too difficult to say I’d like someone else to win rather than me, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I’m afraid I’m quite keen on winning.”
As Cameron got up to leave, he told Reema hers was a “top question” and “the best one I have been asked all election campaign”.
As a result, LBC got in touch with her school to ask if she could subject Johnson to the same treatment, hours before she also interviewed Salford parliamentary candidate Rebecca Long at her school.
“I got taken out of form this morning and I went to one of the teachers’ offices to make the call,” she said.
Her teacher Fiona O’Sullivan added: “Reema is an excellent student at the academy in year 7 and a great ambassador and role model for others. She devised the questions herself and has an interest in politics. I can see her as a future MP, so watch this space.”
Reema confirmed she is interested in going into politics in the future. But who does she prefer to look up to, Cameron or Johnson? “David. Boris’s answer was a bit funny. He stuttered and then gave a random answer about Britain.”
