Keir Mather MP: Out and about with the 'Baby of the House'

Keir Mather chats with Janet and Brian Rogerson (left) at Selby Abbey

Aged 25, Labour's Keir Mather is the youngest MP in the House of Commons, landing him the title of 'Baby of the House'.

Back in July, he won the Selby and Ainsty by-election in North Yorkshire after overturning a 20,137 Conservative majority.

A few months in, how is he being received in Selby as he cuts his political teeth?

Keir Mather MP said age and experience "is not a precursor" to success

"I thought he'd just fallen out of his pram," chuckled Janet Rogerson, 76, between gulps of milky tea inside Selby Abbey, as she recalled the time fresh-faced Keir Mather arrived on her doorstep seeking her vote.

Mr Mather and I have left his sparsely-furnished office, where hoardings - a hangover from the by-election - promising "a fresh start" - are propped up in a reception room, to take in some of the town's sights.

Mrs Rogerson and husband Brian are chatting with friends in the café, tucked away in a corner of this striking building.

"Bless him, he looks so young," continued Mrs Rogerson. "I must admit I didn't think he stood a chance, but he's done amazing, overturning that majority."

Looking a little bashful, Mr Mather laughed off the comments, before the conversation turns to the impact of planned closures of railway ticket offices.

If the 'Baby of the House' tag has started to wear thin now, he is hiding it well.

Keir Mather MP, centre, pictured at a celebration rally in Selby with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer MP and deputy leader Angela Rayner MP

Hazel Horsman, 84, also nursing a tea, chipped in: "I just hope that it [the election result] inspires other young people to get into politics. We need to get the oldies out and the younger ones in. It's their turn now."

Born in Hull, Mr Mather and his family moved to Elloughton, a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, when he was young. He promotes his Yorkshire heritage, in particular his birth city; a city as red as they come.

He recently released a video from Westminster in which he spoke of his love for rugby league side Hull Kingston Rovers.

His mother, Jill Golding, a secondary school supply teacher, and his father, Mick Mather, a support worker, named him after Keir Hardie - Labour's founder.

After leaving a local comprehensive school, Mr Mather won a place at Oxford University, where he gained a first class honours degree in history and politics. His first salary was from the office of Ilford North Labour MP Wes Streeting, where he worked as a researcher.

With designs of becoming an MP himself, Mr Mather returned to Oxford to study for a masters in public policy after which he spent a year working as a public affairs public adviser for the Confederation of British Industry.

The election hoardings are down and the new MP said life was busy

There was an obvious question that needed to be asked: Does a 25-year-old, with little in the way of life experience, have the mettle to cut it as an MP?

"Selby and Ainsty has elected a young MP and I think that speaks to the fact that they want someone with fresh ideas," he responded. "Age and experience is not a precursor to being good at your job; to being a good MP.

"Once people realise how hard I am willing to work for them, to fight their corner, age becomes immaterial."

He quoted data from the Electoral Calculus that stated the average age of the electorate in Selby was 52. It was evidence, he said, of an older generation willing to put its trust in a younger politician.

"Selby and Ainsty has decided to send a young MP to London to represent them," he said. "It's an incredible privilege and an enormous responsibility. But it will require an enormous amount of hard work."

During his victory rally, he was pictured alongside deputy leader Angela Rayner, a former care worker who had a baby at 16 and left school without any qualifications after being told she would not achieve much.

I suggested to him that the electorate might be more open to Labour's rhetoric of "a new deal for working people" coming from a politician with lived experience like Ms Rayner, and I asked him whether he could look a struggling, single parent from Selby in the eye and tell them he understands.

"I represent about 80,000 people," he replied. "I cannot, naturally, have the same experience as every person, but what I can do is conduct myself with a sense of moral responsibility and empathy."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, left, welcomed newly elected MP for Selby, Keir Mather, to the House of Commons

Mr Mather told me he was making an effort to be seen in Selby, spending "as much time as possible" here.

"It's really busy," he said. "We're lifting the lid on 13 years of casework caused by a Conservative government. Believe me, some of the things we see in our inbox makes you want to cry."

Top of his priority list, he told me, was helping those affected by the cost of living crisis. He also said he was keen to tackle what he sees as "insufficient" provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Mr Mather plans to include references to the latter in his maiden speech to the House of Commons on 16 October.

"What makes Selby is the people," he said. "People here are self sufficient and hardy but at the same time it's a close-knit community.

"On the doorsteps, I found people gave you a fair hearing but they were certainly never going to give you a free pass."

Kier Mather said Selby wanted someone with fresh ideas

But was his victory at the polls an endorsement of the two Keirs or a kickback against the Conservative government?

"Some people in Selby have a real sense of hopelessness after 13 years of Tory government," said Mr Mather. "For the last five years they [the Conservative party] have been swapping deckchairs on the Titanic.

"People have lost faith in politicians. But they have chosen someone who will be fighting their corner."

Shopper Owen Stannard, 20, a student, said he hoped Mr Mather would help bring about improvements in Selby but the apathy was clear to see.

"It all seems like a mess to me," he said.

Ruth Thompson, a volunteer at Selby Abbey, admitted she has her reservations about Mr Mather being her MP

Back in the abbey, Ruth Thompson, who volunteers here, said Mr Mather appeared to be "a very pleasant young man".

But she added: "I have my reservations about someone as young as him representing someone my age because he won't have the same problems as I have. We'll have to see, won't we?"