THE mother of an autistic boy marched up Tony Blair during a live television debate and confronted him over the future of special needs schools in Essex.
Maria Hutchings's ten-year-old son Jean Paul Panzavecchia (CORR) attends Cedar Hall School Special School in Hart Road, Thundersley which has been under "constant threat of closure".
Mrs Hutchings, 43, of Romsey Road, Benfleet, felt compelled to make her plea to the Prime Minister on Channel Five's the Wright Stuff programme over fears about integrating pupils in mainstream schools.
Presenter Matthew Wright had to urge her to sit down after she interrupted Mr Blair's comments on the need to maintain school discipline, saying: ''Tony that's rubbish.''
Mr Wright tried to calm the situation, saying: ''Hang on, hang on, hang on - if you wouldn't mind sitting down'', as a visibly agitated Mrs Hutchings pleaded with Mr Blair to hear her case.
Speaking after the show, she said: "The policy of inclusion means they are putting kids in mainstream schools who cannot cope."
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