Children have been given a sneak peek into life as an MP ahead of a visit to the Houses of Parliament this week.
Richmond MP Rishi Sunak spent an hour with children at Leeming and Londonderry Community Primary School explaining about the history and workings of Parliament and answering their questions.
The visit pre-empted the trip to London when six children from Leeming and Londonderry will be joined by others from Years 5 and 6 at Hipswell, Le Cateau and Hunton and Arrathorne Primary Schools on the train to the Palace of Westminster, where it is hoped Mr Sunak will meet them.
The children had some probing questions for their MP including how he plans to vote in the EU referendum and whether farmers would keep their subsidies if the country votes to leave. They wanted to know what the Queen does, why the government did not ban cigarettes and if there were countries in the world where women did not have the same rights as men.
As well as answering what it is like to be famous and how much holiday he gets, Mr Sunak revealed the job he wanted as a child was to be a Jedi knight, but that he was glad to have had a career in business before becoming an MP in May 2015.
Headteacher at Leeming and Londonderry Primary School Rowena Sykes said: “Mr Sunak kindly wrote and congratulated us when we received our good judgement from Ofsted so we thought it would be nice to invite him to school to talk to the pupils before we go to London.
“Even though we are a small school our pupils do get to do exciting things like this and, even better, to do it with other schools so they have the opportunity to socialise with other children. It’s very exciting and they just can’t wait.”
As part of a topic on citizenship and the rule of law, which has included visiting the courts and a police station, the children will go on a Chamber Chat tour of Parliament and take part in role play and group work to help them understand the workings of democracy.
The trip, which has been organised by school administrator Julie Sharrocks, will also include a walk along Whitehall, past Downing Street and Horse Guards, and a visit to the Science Museum.