Member News
Both my parents came from the south west valleys of Wales, and I grew up in a family that was always Labour – though not politically active in a party sense. My father worked in an approved school, but he died when I was seven. Up until then we lived in a school house, but after his death we moved to a council flat.
When I was 11, I got a scholarship to a direct grant school. I was probably the only person in the class who lived on a council estate and didn’t have a family car, and I felt like the odd one out. I never felt at home there.
I came to university in London, and became secretary of the King’s College Labour club. I have been a member of the Labour Party since I was 17. I got a holiday job working for Jim Callaghan, the local MP. He was a very nice man, with a very paternal attitude.
One October I was determined to stay in Cardiff until the election was fought, but he was worried sick and thought I should return to university. I think he worried a lot about me – I was quite strong-willed. I liked London a lot though. It was the time of scooters, and the great LSE bar socials. I remember going to one and seeing Mick Jagger there. I enjoyed that time a lot, though I didn’t do much work. I studied English because I was good at it at school.
After leaving London I went to Manchester to do a course in social administration, and that was much more in line with my interests.
I then began work as a social worker in a hospital with TB and cancer patients, before being seconded to do a year’s social work qualification at Cardiff University. I worked at Sully Hospital for three or four years. It was a fantastic grounding, and they looked on the patients quite holistically. They were very forward looking – they had a crèche, and as I had three young children, they were able to come with me.
I was also involved with the local Labour Party, and was on South Glamorgan Council from 1985 to 1996. It was absolutely fascinating: you work in a defined area and you can see what you actually do. It was a densely populated inner city ward, and fantastic to represent.
I was a full-time social worker, mother, and councillor. It was full pelt, morning until night. I got to a position where I had to choose between social work and politics. I’d been a councillor for a number of years, and women were very badly represented in Welsh politics. We did a lot of work to encourage women, and I decided that if I didn’t try to stand as an MP then no-one else would. I didn’t see it as a career, I just saw it as the most practical way to do what I wanted to do.
I lost by less than 2,000 votes in 1992. I felt we were going in the right direction, but I wasn’t surprised when we didn’t get in. I knew that I would stand again, and I had good relations with the seat. I kept on working as a social worker with Barnardo’s – I had moved to the voluntary sector in 1987 so that I could stay active in politics – and was there for eight years altogether. I was able to develop a huge range of projects, with the freedom I wouldn’t have had in the social services.
I won my seat in 1997. It felt very strange to come here – it was completely different to anything I had ever experienced before. It takes a long time to understand how everything works.
I wasn’t in the ‘Blair’s Babes’ picture – and I was quite glad I wasn’t. In 1997 it was still difficult to be heard – it’s completely changed. When I first came here, people would snigger if you mentioned childcare. Now issues like that, and work flexibility, are taken seriously. I have campaigned for a crèche in Parliament since I have been here, so I am completely behind the Speaker’s plans.
I joined the Welsh affairs committee when I came here. I was very committed to devolution, and it seemed to me important to be on that committee – it seemed like the bridge between Wales and Westminster. Should devolution go further? Oh yes. I strongly support Wales having similar powers to Scotland, and I hope we would get that over the next couple of years.
I went on the justice committee, and the public administration committee, both of which I am very keen on. I have been campaigning to reduce the number of women in prison for a long time, and being on the justice committee helps a great deal.
I’ve always been a backbencher, so I have always seen it as my role to challenge the government. As a Member, one of the most difficult things is to reconcile what your party’s position is with what you think might be the right thing. I have rebelled, but I feel obliged to stick with anything that is in the manifesto. I have never been terribly keen on ID cards, but they’re in the manifesto, so I voted for them. I am very glad that I voted against the Iraq war, and I have voted against 42 days detention, tuition fees, and the government’s stance on the Gurkhas.
I’ve never felt that any whips have put me under any undue pressure, but I found it very stressful and difficult to vote against the party. I don’t see myself as a serial rebel, but if I think something is wrong, then it is my duty to represent what I feel and what I think my constituents would think is right.
I have never spent any time thinking about a ministerial career. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have liked it, but I haven’t done anything in the hope of getting a ministerial position. I don’t operate that way.
I came fifth in this year’s private member’s ballot, and I decided to take on the work my colleague Sian James had done, campaigning against sunbeds. I want to get it through before the general election. The health dangers are widely accepted – there was a young girl in Barry who went into an unsupervised sunbed and ended up with 70 per cent burns to her body – and it seems such a practical thing to do. It was absolutely heaving at the launch the other week, though that might have been down to Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud supporting us and providing a bit of glamour. We’ve got the second reading of the bill this week.
I’m standing again at the next election. My majority is now pretty small, but when I won the constituency it was the first time that Labour had won it, so I have always felt it was marginal. It’s a seat that is open to a swing, but I’ve got more issues on the go now than ever before, and I see a lot of support around the constituency. I’m realistic about it – we’ll have to see what happens.
My husband Rhodri and I have never tried to influence each other, but we do share and talk a lot about politics. We were only at Westminster together for about two years, and that was a wonderful time. We were here together, away from home, and it was a unique situation.
We have a caravan down in West Wales, and we take our holidays there every year. The water is cold but clear, and there are dolphins in the bay. We swim right out and back, and have fresh mackerel for supper. Nothing could be nicer.
I don’t think the Labour Party today is very different from the party I joined when I was 17, and the reasons I joined the party are the same reasons that keep me firmly in it. It has given me huge opportunities – including meeting my husband – and I couldn’t think of a better job.
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