The Political Studies Association held their annual awards ceremony in Westminster this evening.  I was delighted to be awarded the Associations Lifetime Achievement in Politics Award 2015. The awards evening was hosted by Channel 4 journalist and presenter Jon Snow and the award was presented by BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson.

Head teacher Jennifer Parris invited me to visit St Mary Magdalene C of E Primary School in Peckham following their International School award by the British Council. It was given for their commitment to providing a rich and creative range of international work to the curriculum.

As part of my visit I was invited to speak with Key Stage 2 pupils as part of their inspirational speaker’s programme and I was given an excellent tour by year 6 pupil and chairperson of the school council, Toluwani. Before I left I also joined the whole school assembly for a Q&A session. I also got the chance to catch up and chat with Parents in the school playground.

This evening I joined a roundtable discussion chaired by Andy Slaughter MP, Shadow Minister for Human Rights, to discuss the governments proposals to scrap the Human Rights Act. We were also joined by leading human rights experts from Liberty, Amnesty, Justice as well as representatives from trade unions, the legal profession and others. We discussed our response to the government's proposals.

Great to join local party members and councillors for the annual Camberwell and Peckham Labour Party gala dinner. We were delighted to have London Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan MP as our guest speaker and thanks to Neil Coyle MP for his support too!

After 5 months of detention in an Indonesian prison Camberwell journalist and resident Rebecca Prosser finally returned home to her family on the 11th November.

Rebecca and fellow journalist Neil Bonner were arrested by the Indonesian Navy while filming a documentary about piracy in the     Malacca Strait. They were doing their jobs and were not criminals.

I pressed for Rebecca’s release and met with FCO Minister Hugo Swire MP, the Indonesian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Thayeb and asked the Secretary of State at Foreign and Commonwealth questions to do all he could to support Rebecca whilst she was detained and to ensure that she was allowed to return home.

On her return I was delighted to welcome, Rebecca, her family and Neil to Parliament for tea.

Chaired by Jackie Ashley, President of Lucy Cavendish College. I joined the shared celebration of the 50th anniversary of the BBC's The World at One, Lucy Cavendish College and Carers UK at an event to debate Gender Inequality. I participated in an Q&A session with Martha Kearney, presenter of BBC's The World at One to reflect on 28 years in frontline politics. 

The programme also included sessions from leading women who discussed some of the issues and choices facing women from work to the challenges of caring to public life.

This afternoon Camberwell and Peckham Labour women met for a drop-in social and snack lunch at the Peckham Liberal Club. It was a great chance to meet and get to know each other. We were also joined by:

*          Dora Dixon-Fyle, long-standing local councillor for Camberwell Green and current Mayor of Southwark

*          Jo Baxter, Secretary of our Constituency Labour Party and member of the National Executive Committee

*          Fiona Colley, local councillor for Nunhead and Southwark Council Cabinet Member for Finance & Modernisation

At Borough High Street war memorial I joined local people, the Mayor, Councillors, civic leaders and members of our armed services to pay tribute at a service of remembrance.

Rye Lane Chapel was the venue for todays New Members Event. We were joined by Guardian columnist Owen Jones and were delighted to welcome so many new members to the Labour Party.  A great event arranged by Jane Bevis, Chair, and Johanna Baxter, Secretary of Camberwell and Peckham Labour Party.

Earlier this afternoon I was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Spectator magazine annual awards ceremony in central London.

A full list of The Spectator awards 2015 recipients can be found here: http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/spectator-parliamentarian-of-the-year-2015-the-winners/