What is your first political memory?
The first experience that fired me politically was taking the 11+. My parents came from working-class families and left school at fourteen. We lived on a council estate but we never felt disadvantaged. My parents were very caring, worked hard and expected us to do so, too. They were very aspiring for their own children and, being the eldest, I wanted to pass.
I remember vividly the days leading up to the results coming out. There was a story that if you passed your results came in a white envelope and in a brown envelope if you failed. I can’t remember now whether that proved to be reality or myth. However, I do recall walking to school that day, having passed, learning with dismay how many of my friends had not. We had all been put into ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ boxes, and the same was to happen over the years to my seven sisters and brothers. What seemed to me, even then, to be an injustice was compounded when I arrived at grammar school to find so few children from backgrounds like mine.
Education determines life chances. It’s only by striving for excellence in every school through creativity and diversity, including specialist schools, that we will give parents real choice and all children, especially the most disadvantaged, the chances they deserve.
Who is your political hero?
Because of the monumental scale of both his sacrifice and his achievements, and his ability to come through with self-evident integrity and generosity of spirit, it must be Nelson Mandela.
Which public figure outside politics do you most admire?
Amongst contemporary figures, runner Paula Radcliffe, because she’s an ordinary woman achieving extraordinary things. She’s such a fantastic role model for young people and young women in particular.
If you were granted one political wish what would it be?
An excellent education for every child. Locally, this would give every child in my constituency an equal chance. Globally, a good education for all children including girls is the most sustainable way of tackling poverty, avoiding conflict, establishing democracy and assisting development.
When you were a child what did you want to be?
Initially, a doctor. But reality set in as I got older and I realised it was very unlikely for a young woman from my background in the late 1960s to get into medical school. After university, I became a probation officer so I guess that early vocational ambition was realised, albeit in a different way.
If Channel Four had a ‘Big Brother’ parliament special, whom would you nominate for eviction first?
If that ever took place, I’d make sure I was first out.
If you had to be stranded on a desert island with someone from the opposition benches, who would it be?
Sylvia Herman. Not only are we great friends but I think that, like me, she’d be desperate to escape and, with her courage and ingenuity, I’ve no doubt we would.
Apart from political engagements,how do you spend the weekend?
At home seeing my children, cooking dinner for friends, listening to jazz with my husband Tom and calling in on my Mum, which I do at least once a week.
What’s the strangest gift you have ever received as an MP?
At a charity dinner, the sponsoring company gave each man a whisky glass and the women a headscarf emblazoned with the company’s logo. Needless to say, it became a duster.
What would be your desert island disc and book?
Because each has personal significance and will bear returning to again and again, Mama Africa, a collection by Miriam Makeba and Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence.
If you were able to spend an hour with one dead historical figure, who would it be?
Clem Attlee. I’d be intrigued to get under the skin of this most enigmatic but hugely effective leader, who kept no diaries or contemporaneous record. However, by all accounts getting him to talk for an hour about himself may be a challenge.