MP Kate Hoey was the guest of honour at an annual speech day held by a city school.

The chairman of the Countryside Alliance and Mayor of London's commissioner for sport spoke at the event held at Exeter School to celebrate the school's activities and achievements.

Ms Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall, awarded prizes and spoke about the value of sporting activity, describing how her own self-belief and political career had been nurtured at her grammar school in Northern Ireland through extra-curricular competitive pursuits.

Her closing message was that young people should stand firm in their beliefs and have the courage to follow their own judgement, even if their views ran counter to popular opinion.

Before the prize giving, she met sixth form politics students, who quizzed her on a range of current affairs issues.

Richard Baker, head of politics at Exeter School, said Ms Hoey had "fielded a wide range of searching questions from a group of A level students."

He said: "She spoke with honesty, knowledge and passion on many issues including the 2012 Olympics, fox hunting and a career in politics."

Headmaster Bob Griffin said he had been "delighted to welcome a woman of such distinction" to the school and the time that she had spent with senior pupils and her message to the whole school community had been "inspirational".