Vicky Foxcroft, Labour MP for Lewisham North
Notas do episódio
Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft on childhood abuse, caravans and bedsits, constant new schools, and the path from all of it to a seat in the House of Commons.
Vicky Foxcroft has been the Labour MP for Lewisham North since 2015, but her route to Parliament was anything but conventional.
She welcomed us into her Westminster office mid make-up touch-up, and within minutes was treating us like old friends. Then she told us about a childhood most people wouldn't guess at.
Everything changed when her mum entered an abusive relationship. The man began abusing Vicky too, and family life became increasingly unstable. Vicky, her mum and her sister moved again and again, living in caravans, bedsits and temporary accommodation. Every move meant a new home and a new school, and at some of them she was badly bullied.
Against the odds, she came out with good BTECs and a place at university. That's where she joined the Labour Party, the start of a path that would eventually lead to the House of Commons.
What keeps her going? Helping people who are struggling. She tells us about visiting a school where a young girl living in temporary accommodation walked up to her and said: "When I'm older, I'm going to be an MP, just like you." Moments like that, she says, make all of it worth it.
Her superpower: empathy. Her biggest weakness: empathy.
Vicky also speaks openly about her time as shadow minister for disabled people and her later role as a government whip under Keir Starmer.
This is Vicky Foxcroft's life story, laid out in full.
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