At first glance, Vernon Coaker's office is how you would expect a work space occupied by a member of the House of Lords to look. There is a picture of him shaking hands with Barack Obama, various awards dotted around the room, and all of it is complemented by a breath-taking view of the parliamentary estate.
But on one of the walls, there is a framed picture of a slightly run-down establishment called the "Costa Brava Cafe". Despite this picture being hung right next to his photo with the 44th President of the United States, it is to this cafe that Lord Coaker first drew our attention when we visited him in London.
Lord Coaker, 69, served as the Labour MP for Gedling for 22 years before losing the seat in 2019. He was soon invited by the Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer to join the House of Lords and is now the party's shadow spokesperson for home affairs and defence in that chamber.
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The picture of the Costa Brava Cafe was given to him as a gift by his fellow former Labour MP Stephen Pound. The cafe was located in London, where Lord Coaker was born, and it was a regular haunt for both him and his friends during his youth.
Whilst whiling away the hours there, Lord Coaker says that he became something of a pinball champion. Now, he says that he uses the picture to reflect on the journey his life has taken him on.
He said: "That Costa Brava Cafe is derelict now. It just reminds me, not that I am from dereliction, but it's great to think that there I was playing pinball at a cafe in West London and now I'm in the House of Lords.
"Everyone's life is a journey and I've been fortunate to get where I am, I just want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity of getting somewhere and making the most of their lives. The Costa Brava Cafe to the House of Lords - it's not a bad journey, and it's not over yet."
"The heartbeat of British democracy"
Nottinghamshire Live spent the day with Lord Coaker in the Houses of Parliament, with our visit coinciding with the return of MPs on Tuesday (October 11). But despite the febrile political atmosphere currently hanging over Westminster, there was still a sense of sombreness at the start of our visit.
In the House of Lords, peers were still taking part in the process of swearing their allegiance to King Charles III, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September. Lord Coaker was one of around 2,000 people who attended the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey.
He took us to the oldest part of the parliamentary estate, Westminster Hall, where the Queen lay in state for hundreds of thousands of members of the public to pay their respects. Standing on the very spot where the coffin was placed, Lord Coaker says that the occasion was a perfect example of the history that Parliament holds.
He said: "I'm always reminded by these phenomenal buildings that you see around you that this is the heartbeat of British democracy. But it's also an iconic building that the world looks to and I think that people are very proud of that."
Working in the House of Lords is also something which Lord Coaker is very proud of, although he does believe that change in the way it operates is needed, particularly around how many peers are in the chamber. Debate about the House of Lords has been a lively subject for decades, with many questioning why a group of more than 700 unelected people are having an influence on legislation.
The House of Commons is made up of elected MPs and has more power than the House of Lords, which acts as a constitutional "check and balance". Lord Coaker believes that one of the main advantages of the House of Lords is the life experiences that many of its members have.
Within the space of around 10 minutes on our visit to the House of Lords, former Home Secretary David Blunkett said hello, we shook hands with former Chancellor and Conservative Rushcliffe MP Ken Clarke and had a brief chat with Lord Richard Dannatt, the former head of the British Army.
Lord Coaker says that such figures are commonplace in the House of Lords. He said: "It's quite humbling in many ways. We met the former head of the British Army, you're talking to a man who has ordered troops into battle and who has been in battle himself. To have that experience and knowledge and to bring that to bear on debates and discussions that we have, I think that adds to it.
"It is quite something when you meet these people. Alf Dubs, for example, is a fellow Labour peer. Alf Dubs was part of the Kindertransport, so you're talking to living history, somebody who fled the Nazis and was on the last train to leave Prague.
"Alan West is a Labour Peer and Alan West was the commander of HMS Ardent, which was one of the ships sunk during the Falklands War - 22 of his sailors were killed and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for what he did to try and save his crew.
"He's sat there next to me on the benches and he's a war hero. When you look around the chamber you see lots of people, some of whom are quite elderly, some of whom are quite frail.
"But it's important in life and the Lords reminds you of it, and maybe it's a sign of me getting a bit older, that people have life stories and they are people who have served, who have done amazing things and bringing that experience into the Lords is quite amazing.
"It exists as it stands at the moment so I think more people with the experience that I have, not only as an MP but as a teacher in Nottingham for over 20 years, to have that experience and knowledge in the House of Lords is important. You can debate change, but it exists at the moment and from my perspective I wanted to go in there and do what I could to campaign."
Nottinghamshire roots
This passion for campaigning is something which Lord Coaker says he has not lost since his election defeat in 2019, an event which he says he is determined "not to be defined by". His election loss came following a difficult period under the Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, which ended in his resignation from the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary in 2016.
He said: "I don't regret joining the Shadow Cabinet because the hope and the expectation after 2015 was that with the responsibility of being leader of the Labour Party, he'd acknowledge and realise the change that was needed and that he needed to lead the party in a way that recognised the position he had, from my perspective he didn't do that.
"People know what I tried to do, people know where I stood and now I'm looking forward to the work I'm going to carry on doing in the House of Lords. I'll also look forward to doing all I can to return a Labour government and the position looks much better for us than it did even 18 months ago, but we can't be complacent because we've not won an election yet and we need to make sure that we get the trust of the British people and that we keep that trust."
Alongside his work in the House of Lords, Lord Coaker also serves as the Independent Chair of the Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership and is a Principal Research Fellow in Antislavery Policy at the University of Nottingham. Lord Coaker says he has not forgotten his "Nottinghamshire roots" and there is even a constant reminder of it within the fabric of Parliament.
Near the central lobby is a painting depicting King Charles I raising the Royal Standard in Nottingham, marking the opening move of the English Civil War. The position of the painting means that Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are given a prominent place in the Houses of Parliament, and Lord Coaker says that the county is never far from his mind.
He added: "Obviously the House of Lords is very different, you don't have that constituency, although I still do as much as I can to support people in Gedling and Gedling Borough Council, but more broadly the city, county and wider region. When we lost, I was determined to carry on, maybe in a different role, as has obviously happened, representing people in Gedling and to deliver for the area and the community that has been so good to me. Life is up and down, the thing to do is to carry on."
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