PUPILS had the chance to give a politician a grilling when he took a North-East school assembly yesterday.

North Durham MP Kevan Jones took the morning assembly, at Greenland Junior School in South Moor, Stanley. He told the pupils about his job and the Houses of Parliament, then answered questions from the floor.

"Some of their questions were very good," he said. "They asked me things like why Big Ben is called Big Ben. It was good fun.

"It was good to talk to the staff about the problems that they are facing, but also nice to talk to the youngsters about what I do. It is a great school in a deprived area that is doing a lot of good work and that needs to be recognised."

He spent two hours at Greenland, part of a tour of schools in his constituency.

The chairman of the governors, Fred Westwater, said: "It was good to see our MP at a little school like ours. It was a nice day."