She has not had to make the tea, or been given any photocopying to do. But as Daniela Oliveros-Elvidge was summoned to meet the boss on her first day of work experience, she wondered exactly just what she’d got herself into. “I just shook his hand and looked at him with wide eyes, thinking to myself, ‘Oh my god, what have I done?’ ”

Her nerves were understandable: her boss is Gordon Brown. Yesterday Mrs Oliveros-Elvidge — “just a 24-year-old girl with no experience in life”, she says — embarked on possibly the most prestigious work experience placement in the country.

She secured a four-day stint at No 10 with an audacious request to Mr Brown at a Budget roadshow in April. She explained that she had a keen interest in politics and needed a placement for a course she was doing with The Prince’s Trust. “How can I refuse?” Mr Brown replied. “You can write the next Budget.”

Her first day included security briefings, a whistle-stop tour of the building, research assignments, watching debates in the Commons and being summoned to meet the Prime Minister. Mr Brown “shook my hand, and said he was happy to have me here”, she said. “I said it was an honour to have the opportunity, I said thank you. I don’t remember much, I was so nervous.”

After the prime ministerial welcome, it was back to the research and information department, where there was serious work to be done.

Mrs Oliveros-Elvidge, who grew up in the small Venezuelan town of Puerto Ordaz, came to Britain four years ago, spoke little English and began studying.

She met James Elvidge and they married three years ago. She worked as a customer service adviser for a Spanish bank before embarking on a self-development course with The Prince’s Trust.

Today Mrs Oliveros-Elvidge will be spending time at the broadcasting department and will be back in the Commons to keep an eye on her new boss’s performance at Prime Minister’s Questions.

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