Wes Streeting, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Health, had an emotional reunion with his former primary school teacher at his book launch in Colchester in June.

Wes, whose autobiography One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up has just been published, was surprised to find out that Dorothy Eden was sitting in the audience at the Lakeside Theatre.

“You changed my life” he told her “You saw something in me and put me on the right track.”

During the event, organised by Essex Book Festival, Wes described how his life could have gone in a very different direction. One of his grandfathers was a convicted armed robber and he grew up in a household in East London without much money around.

In the book he praises his former Year Six teacher for her devotion to the pupils of St Peter’s Primary in Tower Hamlets and tells how she steered him towards success at school and beyond.

Wes was being interviewed by Professor Pam Cox, City Councillor and Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Colchester.

“It was a surprisingly emotional evening” said Pam, “we had Wes’s mum as well as his former teacher in the audience and it felt like we really learned what makes him tick.”

The talk was attended by over 150 people and was the final discussion event of this year’s Essex Book Festival.

Photos by Colchester Labour Party

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