So on Monday morning I accompanied the Tesco Mum of the Year winners to Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister.
We were shown into a beautiful room and given biscuits (including Jammie Dodgers, apparently the PM likes Hob Nobs best) and coffee. And then the PM walked in, shook all our hands, sat down and started talking.
I was impressed that he took the time to talk to each of the mums individually, asking them about their achievements and really listening to what they were telling him and in many cases relating his own personal experiences. It meant a great deal to the women, all of whom have overcome personal challenges.
The PM was very chatty and told us his daughter had insisted on going to school dressed as Miss Piggy for World Book Day, even though he tried to tell her The Muppets wasn’t a book (his son went as Winnie the Pooh).
Did I like him? Well, he was charming (although my mum insists that’s the Eton-thing).
Afterwards, while the PM went off to do an interview, we were given a tour of Downing Street, where we were shown into the Cabinet Room and the garden, complete with climbing frame for the Cameron children. No 10 is a bit like a tardis – it has so many rooms and corridors and extends back much further than you realise. We saw art including a Henry Moore sculpture and Lowry painting, and a JFK autobiography inscribed by the President himself. It was absolutely fascinating.
*If you want to know why the PM gave up his valuable time to talk to this particular group of mums, click here to read their stories.
[…] At the start of the year I was working on the Mum of the Year awards, which meant that I *had* to go and record the voiceovers with Andrew Lincoln *swoon*. I was also able to accompany the extraordinary winners to Downing Street where we had coffee and Jammie Dodgers with the Prime Minister. […]