Member

As an adult, I was fortunate to win a scholarship for my PhD in EU policy, and I worked in the European Parliament in Brussels for five years, specialising in regional investment funding to tackle inequality. While I was there, I made friends with the chirpy young woman in the next office, another northern lass who was passionate about politics—Jo Leadbeater, who later became Jo Cox. We ran the New York marathon together in 2001 with Suzy Sumner, as the Northern Lasses. We were so proud of Jo when she became an MP and how, with her usual style of Tiggerish enthusiasm and charm, she would persuade everyone towards her policy aims.