South Swindon Labour parliamentary candidate Heidi Alexander is a former Shadow Health Secretary who was MP for Lewisham East for eight years from 2010 - and is also a Swindonian.
Heidi says she wants to represent the town she has returned to - Swindon.
“The thing that motivated me to get into politics,” she said, “and the point at which I was first interested in politics, was when I was at university.
“Having had a very normal upbringing in Swindon - my dad was a self-employed electrician and my mum helped my dad run his little business but was also a dinner lady at the local school - going to a university like Durham you meet a lot of people who have had a lot of privilege in their lives, been fortunate enough to be educated at public schools.
“I suddenly realised that I had quite a different world view and some different life experiences to those people, and I became quite interested in who the people were that were taking decisions on our behalf in Government.
“One of the things that motivated me to join the Labour Party was that I believe everyone in life, irrespective of their background, the size of their parents’ bank balance, the colour of their skin, their religion, should have the same opportunities in life.
“I think that talent and potential in this country is evenly spread, but I don’t think opportunity is, and I think that at the heart of what the Labour Party is about is changing that.”
Born at the old Princess Margaret Hospital, the future MP attended Churchfields School and New College before studying Geography at Durham.
Initially working for Parcelforce, Heidi became a researcher for Labour MP Joan Ruddock before securing her own seat and rising through the ranks.
Afte leaving Parliamnt in 2018, she served as Deputy Mayor of London for Transport until last year, but after covid she began reflecting on what she wanted to do in the future.
Heidi recalled: “One of the things that I really missed when I was working as the Deputy Mayor for Transport was the sense of mission that you get from being an elected representative for a particular area, and the ability you have in that position to try and bring about change, to build a team and a movement of people that want to see things improved.
“I missed knocking on doors and talking to people - it’s been good to get back to that. Also, last year and earlier this year I was very angry with the way our politics nationally was being conducted.
“I was particularly angry about the complete absence of honesty, integrity and decency that existed in the Boris Johnson Government, and I found myself screaming at the television on a number of occasions!
“Once again in my life, I thought to myself, ‘It’s very easy to moan about it - you’ve had the experience and you’ve got the skills to make a difference here.’
“I actually felt that it was incumbent on me, actually, to put myself forward for Parliament again.
“I’ve done the job before, I know how to get things done, and it was evident to me that our politics really needs to be shaken up.
“When I was an MP previously, the best compliment that anyone ever gave me was to say to me, ‘You’re not like the others, you’re not like the rest of them.’
“I will always do what I say I’m going to do. I won’t promise things that I know I can’t deliver or that I can’t be guaranteed to deliver.
“What I would also say is that if you think about some of the changes that happened under the last Labour Government, I think life did improve for a lot of people during that time.”
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