FERRYHILL went global this morning as Prime Minister Boris Johnson dropped in on a primary school accompanied by a former Australian Prime Minister to join an internet link-up with the president of Kenya in Nairobi.

“It is totally bizarre but it is brilliant,” said Mr Johnson. “I know that you think it is my obsession with County Durham but it was fixed up ages ago.”

So in a classroom at Cleves Cross primary, connected across the continents by the internet, Mr Johnson and Julia Gillard, who was Australian PM from 2010 to 2013, reminisced about their favourite teachers with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mr Johnson revealed he attended the same primary school in Camden as the Miliband brothers, and that his favourite teacher was Mr Fox. “He decided I needed extra reading, whether he thought I had potential, whether he thought I was behind, I’m not sure,” he said. “He took me in the library and gave me loads of books.”

Mr Johnson said his favourite subjects had been Latin and ancient Greek.

Laughing, he said: “They are crucial to our understanding of the modern world.”

Via the live-link, Mr Kenyatta said: “Not as important as Swahili.”

The international trio were launching a £55m fund to support education in developing countries ahead of a UK-Kenya Global Education Summit in July which aims to raise $5bn for the work of the Global Education Partnership, which Ms Gillard chairs.

“If every young girl in the world got the same funding and same quality education as every young boy, it will do more for global peace, prosperity and the environment than almost anything else you can do,” said Mr Johnson, who denied that the initiative was linked to the Government’s controversial cut in overseas aid.

The visit was Mr Johnson’s fifth to the North-East in less than two months, but it was planned three weeks ago. Cleves Cross was chosen because it has a “connecting classrooms” link with Kenya. Before the pandemic, two teachers visited Westlands primary school in Nairobi and it is hoped to pick up the links again once Covid clears.

“The children are absolutely ecstatic,” said headteacher Alison Lazenby. “Boris Johnson is a character that they have seen a lot of on TV so they recognise him instantly, even the younger ones. They have been buzzing to speak to him.”

At the end of his school visit, Sedgefield MP Paul Howell took Mr Johnson a mile or so to the East Coast Main Line to show him where Ferryhill station had been until it closed to passengers in 1967. He also met Cllr Joe Quinn who has just become Ferryhill’s first Conservative representative on Durham County Council.

Mr Howell said: “We all agreed that a station brings economic growth and all the good things that go with that as well as the ability to stimulate young people’s aspirations and ability to get a job. This line can connect to Teesside in a heartbeat and will allow the people of Ferryhill to link to the work of Tees Valley mayor.”

Mr Johnson said: “There is huge potential in Ferryhill. I am hugely impressed by everything I’ve seen today, the capacity in this area for meeting high standards of education and for economic growth.”