Tristram Hunt: I am hugely in favour of yummy mummies

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.