Tory MP Alan Mak: Going to private school in Yorkshire changed my life - I want others to have the same chance

He says attending St Peter’s changed the trajectory of his life and set him on a path to attending both Cambridge and Oxford, work in a London law firm, lead an influential charity and win election to Parliament aged 31.

Mak’s parents owned a Chinese takeaway in York and he initially attended the comprehensive Queen Anne School. But as plans for the school’s closure progressed, he was granted a place at the neighbouring St Peter’s.

The school’s annual fees are now £21,780 for day pupils and £37,320 for boarders but Mak received a Government-funded assisted place scholarship, a bursary and a school scholarship to enable him to attend.

Mak says his speech today will set out his “transformative experience” at the school. "It changed my life from being a son of immigrant shopkeepers who lived above a Chinese takeaway to someone who reached the Green Benches of Parliament and the Despatch Box as a Government Minister."

He will also be using his speech to rally support for a campaign to raise £5m and double the number of bursaries the school offers by 2027, the year of its 1,400th anniversary.

"The teachers helped me to become the first person in my family to go to university. When I joined the school I was far behind many of the other pupils in subjects like maths, French and science. But brilliant teaching enabled me to catch up and go onto study Law at Cambridge.

"I want more young people from Yorkshire to have those opportunities because good education can truly transform a young person’s life.”

His schooldays were also when Mak first joined the Conservative party as a 16-year-old as he was studying politics. It was at the height of the Blair years when William Hague was Tory leader.

"I joined actually to support the Keep the Pound campaign. The even more overriding reason was the Assisted Places scheme that took me to St Peter’s was a Conservative policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher. I was very mindful my life was being changed for the better because of Conservative Party policy. I felt I should join to contribute to the party’s work, even though we were not popular at the time.”

After Cambridge he did a postgraduate year in Oxford before joining a law firm in London. He also became involved in charity work and ended up as trustee and then president of Magic Breakfast, which provides free breakfasts to underprivileged school children.

Mak helped lead the growth of the charity and in 2011, it won David Cameron’s Big Society Award at a point where it was helping 6,000 children in 200 primary schools. The following year, Mak was selected to be an Olympic torch bearer through Bedale.

He says: "It was an inspirational and exciting moment for me but also a wonderful opportunity more importantly to showcase the work of Magic Breakfast. That was a turning point for the charity’s profile and we went onto become the Department for Education’s school breakfast club delivery partner."

Nowadays, the charity is helping more than 200,000 children while Mak says his involvement with its work led him to consider a career in politics. He was selected as the Tory candidate for Havant in October 2014 and won election in May 2015.

"I felt I could offer something a bit different. I’m the first ever and only MP of British-Chinese heritage and the first minister of the same heritage. Coming into contact with the political system with the charity, I felt I could deliver more change within the system rather than from the outside.”

Mak says he has no regrets about entering Westminister despite the political turbulence of recent years. “It has certainly been eventful. I have contested way more general elections than I expected. But ultimately politics is the best way to effect social change, especially if you are interested in grassroots issues like child hunger and poverty as I am.”

While many Tory MPs have announced they will be standing down at the next election, Mak says he has no intention of going anywhere.

"I’m restanding for the next General Election, whenever it is. I’m very optimistic about the future of our country. My parents came from a country where there isn’t democracy or voting. Democracy is very precious and I know that from first-hand experience.”

One current political battle is around the future of private schools like St Peter’s. Labour is seeking to end to tax breaks for private schools, which currently qualify for at least 80 per cent relief on business rates. They argue the move could raise £1.7bn to fund new teachers in the state sector.

But Mak says the policy would drive up fees and decrease access.

"I think it is a very short-sighted and counterproductive idea. Any future Government’s objective should be to maximise the number of pupils getting a fantastic education, whether that is at a private school or a state school. But closing the doors to private schools isn’t going to make state schools better. Parents who send their children to independent schools often make huge sacrifices. These are people with normal jobs, they might own a small business, they might be middle managers, police officers, doctors, nurses. Labour’s policy would punish them and their aspirations for their children.”

Another key message of his speech today will be to encourage St Peter’s pupils to consider entering public service.

“It is important to do good, not just do well. A St Peter’s education gives you the tools to change your life and the lives of other people.”