EDUCATION minister Jacqui Smith visited The Chase in Malvern in the run-up to yesterday's General Election.

Ms Smith, the Labour MP for Redditch, talked to the head, David Fawbert, during the brief visit on Tuesday (June 5).

Mr Fawbert said: "I took the opportunity to lobby her on behalf of all Worcestershire schoolchildren as regards the county's standard spending assessment.

"This is the money allocated by central government for schools, and if Worcestershire is not at the bottom of the league tables of shire counties, it's very close to it."

Ms Smith's mother is a former teacher at The Chase, although she herself attended Dyson Perrins.

Also in town was West Midlands Labour MEP Neena Gill, who appeared at a public meeting on Monday, June 4. She attended the meeting at the Civil Service Social Club, Pickersleigh Avenue, in support of West Worcestershire candidate Waqar Azmi.