Last night we were delighted to welcome David Lammy MP for a special discussion event.
The MP for Tottenham is one of the highest-profile Labour MPs. The current Shadow Secretary of State for Justice in Sir Keir Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet, Mr Lammy is well known for fighting for justice for the Grenfell fire victims, campaigning against Brexit and as an outspoken critic of the Government over the Windrush scandal.
An Evening with David Lammy was held virtually and we were joined by students from The John Wallis Church of England Academy, a school in Ashford we co-sponsor, as well as staff, parents and Seniors.
Mr Lammy answered a range of questions which had been submitted by Benenden students. These covered all aspects of his career and politics, including Corbynism, cross-party working, education inequality and the Government’s response to Covid.
The questions were posed by the event host, Benenden’s Deputy Head – Academic, Ali Harber, herself a Politics teacher, who left time at the end for live questions to come in from the audience. So many questions were posted that we were unable to get through them all!
Afterwards, Mr Lammy said: “I really enjoyed being put through my paces by the students at Benenden tackling a range of questions on a broad set of issues that appeared to me to come from both sides of the political spectrum.”
Mrs Harber said: “We were delighted to welcome David to Benenden, albeit virtually. He answered all the students’ questions with transparency and honesty and offered a fascinating insight into a range of issues that impact on society.
“We have a very diverse student body and they feel passionately about many of the social issues that David was talking about, and I know that they gained an enormous amount from the evening.”