After Gordon Brown was famously forced by Mumsnet members to reveal his favourite biscuit, Mr S was intrigued to see that Tristram Hunt had agreed to a Mumsnet chat of his own this lunchtime. Brown was so thrown by the chat back in 2009 that he had to take a 24-hour break after he was asked 12 times to name his favourite biscuit.
Hunt seems to have held his nerve better. The chat began above board, with parents asking Hunt what he would do to ensure teachers stay in the profession. He promised to ‘cut down on the bureaucracy getting in the way of teaching’ in order to guarantee that teachers ‘regain their love of the job’. He then went on to challenge Michael Gove on what the most important period of pre-1914 history is:
TheAbbessofBarking: Hi Tristram. Michael Gove apparently has a handwritten list of Plantagenet monarchs who he thinks every British schoolchild should know about. What one thing from British history pre-1914 would you say every schoolchild needs to know about?
TristramHuntMP: I would opt for the English Civil War, a truly defining epoch in the history of ideas, the history of Britishness, and the beginnings of Britain’s more global ambitions. And rather than Michael’s monarchs, it’s important young people get to grips with Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector himself.
However, it wasn’t long before the mothers began to fawn over the dashing politician. Hunt answered a question from one admirer about how he keeps his golden locks in such good condition. His beauty tip? Wash your hair before you go to bed:
Next Hunt was taken to task by a user for describing the founders of free schools as ‘Yummy Mummies’.
candlesAtDawn: Do you still think that parents who are involved in setting up free schools are ‘Yummy Mummies’, and would you agree that statement was incredibly sexist, patronising and ignorant given that many talented and committed parents, with or without professional qualifications, are already heavily relied on to run maintained schools and academies as unpaid governors?
TristramHuntMP: Hi candlesAtDawn, I do regret this comment because I am hugely in favour of yummy mummies and faddy daddies being closely involved in the education of their children. All the academic evidence shows that parents who are supportive of their children’s education can help them achieve so much more. I also agree that parents are a vital component in the running and broader cultural life of so many schools up and down England. However, the Labour Party is opposed to the continuation of the free schools programme because at a time of a school places crisis we think that building free schools in areas with no shortage of places is a misallocation of public funds.
Overall Mr S suspects that Hunt will be happy with how the session went, especially given that no one brought up the n-word. Yummy mummies and beauty tips – what more could you want from a shadow cabinet member?
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