King’s Speech

Lord Hobby Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hobby (Non-Afl) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to rise to give my first speech in this House. I declare an interest as the chief executive of the Kemnal Academies Trust.

I want to begin by expressing my sincere gratitude for all the support I have received. I have been genuinely bowled over by the warmth and the kindness that I have found on every Bench and in every part of your Lordships’ House. I want to say a special thank you for my introduction by my noble friends Lady Bousted and Lord Kestenbaum, and the guidance of Black Rod, the Clerk of the Parliaments and her team, the door- keepers, all the staff, and especially my noble friends Lord Kennedy, Lady Wheeler and Lady Smith, and the team behind them. A final thank you to my family —Vic, Keir, Cameron and Fred—for literally everything.

Waiting for this moment has given me the chance to make my contribution in a debate on education, which has been at the centre of my career for the last 30 years —despite, dare I admit, never having taught in a classroom. Luckily, I have not mentioned that anywhere with a permanent record of what is said.

I did not know it at the time, but this journey began at the age of eight. I was at a family funeral, and as I stood outside at the end I saw a familiar figure walking away. It was Mr Peacock, the head teacher of my primary school. What sticks with me is not just that he took the time to come but that he sought no attention or credit for doing so.

There is no standard, professional qualification or inspection judgment that properly captures these daily acts of care that characterise everybody who works in our schools and colleges. I work in education to back those people and because the answer to almost every challenge our country faces leads back to the classroom.

Above all, if we want greater unity and cohesion, we must ensure that everybody has a stake in the future. I admire all who work in our education system to make this happen. But you can see why I have a particular fascination for the role of the head teacher.

It was a famous Member of the other place who once said, “God has not seen fit to grant to Prime Ministers the power he has granted to head teachers”—a line that is a little poignant right now.

So, it was a great honour for me to represent 29,000 head teachers and their deputies when I became general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers in 2010. After the NAHT, I became chief executive of Teach First, that amazing charity founded to encourage talented graduates to spend part of their career teaching. Because the evidence is clear: the most important in-school factor driving educational outcomes is a good teacher.

Today, I lead the Kemnal Academies Trust, a group of 45 schools in the south and east of England. This is a fantastic opportunity to say thank you here to my 56 head teachers, 3,200 staff and 22,000 students, many of whom are in the middle of their GCSEs and A-levels, who do a stunning job in demanding circumstances. As I speak, we have Ofsted in one of our schools, so best wishes to Rainham School for Girls. I am being grilled by the inspectors tomorrow and I am not sure which of those events I am more nervous about—this speech or my inspection grilling.

We have a good education system, but it does not yet do well by every young person. Those who grow up in poverty and those with special educational needs and disabilities do not achieve all that they deserve. It was right to remove the two-child benefit cap. I saw the damage that caused every single day. Whatever you may think of the motives, incentives and choices of adults, surely we do not penalise children for those choices. The reform of special educational needs will be difficult, but it is essential if these most vulnerable of young people are to thrive as they deserve. Our current approach is broken—an adversarial system that encourages conflict, delays diagnosis and forces separation. As a practitioner I am nervous about the reforms, like many, but these proposals were well received in the sector. I have come to realise that the expertise and scrutiny that is characteristic of this Chamber will be a crucial part of navigating the development of these reforms.

As we debate education matters, I hope we will remember that having gone to school does not make us experts on pedagogy any more than having been to hospital makes us experts on surgery. What teachers and heads want from us are the resources to do their job, clarity on direction and support for the difficult decisions that they must often make. We can give that to them, and we as a country can reap the benefits. As families regain their stake in the future, the unity and the optimism that we all crave will grow again.