Down at the school gates they think I am mad. Why? Have I gone vegan, dyed my hair purple or run off with the games teacher?
No. According to many of my friends I have joined the ranks of the truly crazy people. I have decided to leave “ordinary life” behind and try to become an MP.
Many of my friends and family are stupefied. I have no background in politics and although I have been a journalist all my working life, I have never reported from the lobby.
But for five years I have reported on some of the worst social issues to face this country and what I saw was a perfect storm.
Pregnant teenagers, the fall-out from 24-hour drinking and a nation living on credit, co-joined with too many politicians looking for a sound-bite with precious little front-line experience of life in Britain on the edge.
Last summer I did not even belong to a political party. I did not know any MPs, any councillors or any political advisors other than the ones I had interviewed for ITV, Sky or the Daily Mail….and some of those have crossed me off their Christmas card list after encounters on ITV’s Tonight programme that did not go their way.
But I have always been a Conservative at heart so I joined the Richmond Park Conservatives Association and started doing some research.
I discovered I had to sit the Parliamentary Assessment Board in order to get on the list of approved candidates. I was, by now, so close to the deadline I had to mail the forms from my holiday, having slipped into a French supermarket photo-booth for the pictures first.
Twelve weeks later I found myself in a Cheshire hotel room with six hours of tests ahead of me. I was only slightly more nervous covering the overthrow of Indonesia’s President Suharto. I also remember registering that I was the only woman, the only person with children and the only person with no political footprint whatsoever.
Still, I passed the tests and got onto the List. I still find it hugely impressive that a political party is prepared to move that quickly when they see someone with potential.
Since then I have had a great deal of support from the Candidates’ Committee and from individual MPs I meet along the way. Senior Shadow Cabinet Ministers have taken the time and trouble to give me their advice. But now I am concerned.
I can see that there is sometimes a very big gap between the candidates favoured by the local associations, and the ones on the list. This is understandable. The associations develop relationships with potential MPs over many years. They can be resentful of anyone being parachuted in.
Alternatively I can understand our leadership wanting a more diverse range of candidates. It is the only way to get to the widest range of voters. We already know how important it is to have accessible women MPs – some commentators have called it the Grazia effect.
There is a disconnect here, but it is not insurmountable. At least we are able to fast track promising candidates in a plausible way, even if it does not always work.
But while I agree with much of what David Cameron had to say this week, I feel strongly that the debate over the selection of women has become mired in party politics rather than a discussion over how the selection process can accommodate the practicalities of life as a woman in Britain.
The simple fact of the matter is that many women who could be persuaded to represent their communities do not have the time or the support system to start a political career in the current system. Representative women are not single barristers, special advisors or scions of political dynasties. Representative women juggle a combination of family budgets, child-care and supporting partners – if they are lucky enough to have one.
Take one afternoon this week. I had a letter-writing panel to re-structure, a ward committee meeting to chair, emails to write thanking people I met at the previous evening’s Conservative Women’s Organization’s dinner, three children to feed, two sets of homework to supervise, a partner whose business had spent the day under intense pressure. To cap it all, the cleaner did not return from Poland.
Oh. I forgot about the day job. I run my own company, DuberleyMedia, which underpins the whole endeavour.
Now, I am a determined person, but even I had pause for thought when I found myself in the middle of Northwood Hills on a cold winter’s night last year, with a sack of leaflets, a torch and a map for company. Did anyone know I was there?
Since then I have had many enjoyable trips but I am beginning to wonder about the opportunity cost to my fledgling business.
My day out in Waltham Forest was fascinating. I was helping with a local by-election. I spent a pleasant morning with the ex-chair of the association - a charming woman but I am not sure that it increased my political footprint. Maybe I now leave a slight indentation.
As part of Zac Goldsmith’s campaign team I spend a lot of time – as he does – on street stalls or out canvassing and leafleting. I love it. My local association is packed with genuine people but it is time consuming and does it help me get a seat? I am not so sure because no other association will have any contact with me before they see me on the day of a selection.
Recently, I made my first applications. I got to the last eight for Holborn and St Pancras. The selection panel was nerve-wracking but then so was being shot at in Jakarta and tear-gassed in Seoul. I received some very useful but retrospective advice from Teresa May and I will be using it next time.
The trouble is I can overcome my nerves – three years of covering riots and mayhem in the Far East and hundreds of live-shots for 24-hour news saw to that. I can polish up my performance but I know from years of experience in raising children and running a home while working in a pressurized environment, that the way forward is with a clear framework. Without that many women candidates will end up either exhausted or broke - or both.
I
