'I was teaching Year 8s last week - now I'm an MP, and this is what kids wanted to know'

A teacher who traded the classroom for the House of Commons chamber has described the "surreal" six days which turned his life upside down.

Tris Osborne, the new Labour MP for Chatham and Aylesford in Kent, was teaching geography to Year 8 pupils the day before last week's General Election. Throughout the campaign the seat - which had a Tory MP since 2010 - was on a knife-edge, but turned red as Keir Starmer stormed to a historic victory in Thursday's poll.

He went back to his school on Monday, where he was grilled by 12-year-olds about his achievement. Mr Osborne told The Mirror: "It was surreal, I was in the classroom teaching Year 8s until Wednesday, then on Sunday I was in the House of Commons being shown around. It does really bring it home."

Describing his emotional return to meet pupils the following day, he said: "Some of them asked some great questions, I was asked if I had a security guard yet or if I'd met the King. One asked if I could mention their name to Keir Starmer. It was emotional and humbling."

He was sworn in when Parliament reconvened on Tuesday, and has spent his days having security briefings and learning the ropes as a new Member of Parliament. "It feels very much like a university Freshers' Week with everyone getting lost in the corridors and not knowing where they're supposed to be going," Mr Osborne said.

Mr Osborne plans to go back for the end of term on Friday to say goodbyes and take part in a final assembly. "I want to celebrate the end of term with my colleagues and say a proper goodbye," he said.

Like most of Westminster, the humanities teacher - whose subjects include geography and politics - was caught by surprise when Rishi Sunak called a July election. "Midway through the exam timetable wasn't the most convenient time, I don't think Rishi Sunak was thinking of teachers," he said.

Mr Osborne, who was a cabinet member on Medway Council in Kent before the election, said he'd been upfront with his employers about the fact he wanted to stand. He said: "It's a very very marginal seat, I never assumed anything in terms of the result. I spoke to the headteacher on a weekly basis and said where the polls were.

"I always said it was on a knife edge but in the last week I said it was looking like we were slightly ahead."

He said school bosses had been "brilliant", and when he rang on Friday to say he'd been successful he was given warm congratulations. "I couldn't have asked for anything more really," he stated.

Mr Osborne now wants to secure improvements to NHS services in his constituency and help ensure the blight of anti-social behaviour is tackled. And having worked as a teacher he knows full well the challenges schools face, and wants to do his bit to help.