Saffiya, aged 15, from Chorlton, was delighted when Mr Leech agreed to provide a personal insight for pupils at Manchester High School for Girls.

Almost 50 girls listened intently, as the MP revealed that he averaged a 90 hour working week, and that the role of an MP was not for the faint-hearted.

“I got into politics by a bit of a fluke having joined the Liberal Democrats while at Brunel University. I changed to a thin-sandwich course in history and politics, which involved three work placements, two of which involved working for the party in Manchester, and this is where I got my first taste of politics, working in the Withington Constituency during the 1992 General Election.

“As soon as I became involved at this level, I got the bug and knew I had found everything I wanted to do. I progressed to become a councillor, which is how a lot of MPs start off, but equally, others will have been researchers, advisors or constituency assistants. These are often not well-paid jobs to begin with, but they offer invaluable work experience and a chance to decide whether this is the area where you want to pursue a career.

“I calculate that I can work for over 90 hours a week, representing my constituency in Westminster, and then attending events, meetings and advice sessions back in Manchester. Unlike some jobs, an MP never has job security because every four or five years you have to ask the public to re-elect you. To that extent, the job is very much on the line,” he added.

“At the end of the day, I am concentrating on doing this job to the best of my ability and I will get re-elected on the basis of what people think of me in the constituency, and what I do for them,” he said.

Mr Leech, whose sister Audrey attended MHSG, became the first Liberal Democrat MP on Manchester when he won the Withington constituency seat in 2005, with a huge swing of 17%.

He talked about his campaigns to secure more 20mph speed limits on local roads, ruminated on the end of the Blair years, as well as addressing inequalities in research funding for lung cancer.

Having thanked Saffiya for her invitation to visit MHSG, he concluded: “This is the sort of engagement that I will always try to undertake, because too often, people make the mistake of thinking all young people are apathetic. This is certainly not the case at Manchester High School and politicians should find the time to listen regularly to the views of young people.”