THE former head teacher of the new York Outer MP, Luke Charters, has spoken of his immense pride at the success.

Luke, who has taken the seat from Tory Julian Sturdy at the General Election with a majority of almost 10,000, went to Huntington School where John Tomsett taught him A-level economics.

Mr Tomsett was head teacher until 2021 and retired after 23 years teaching at the school where he’d been head since 2007.

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“What I love about Luke is his appetite for hard work. The reading he did behind his subjects at school and for his interview at Oxford was phenomenal,” he said.

“He was never scared or afraid of doing things. His attitude was ‘if not me then who?’ – I think that’s a great attitude for a politician, because someone needs to take responsibility.

“I am deeply proud of him and for him to be elected for our local MP and with Huntington School in the catchment is a dream come true.”

My Tomsett was out yesterday leafleting and canvassing for his former pupil in the city.

At the age of 21, Luke was one of Labour's youngest candidates in the General Election called by Theresa May back in 2017.

He then polled second with 21,067 votes, more than 8,000 behind the Conservatives' Julian Sturdy.

At the last election in 2019, Mr Sturdy held the seat with a 10,000 majority, securing nearly half the vote. The Labour candidate that year was Anna Perrett.

Mr Charters was born in York and has lived in Haxby, Strensall and Osbaldwick.

The 28-year-old was brought up by a single-mum in Heworth in his teenage years and says the hardships they faced attracted him to the Labour Party, beginning campaigning aged just 14.

Mr Charters was first interviewed by The Press back in 2013 when as a 17-year-old at Huntington School he said he wanted to become a politician and at that time he had just introduced Ed Miliband on stage after he was elected as Labour leader.

The Oxford University graduate studied philosophy, politics, and economics, and later gained a master's degree in political science at the University of Chicago.