Diane Abbott MP

The first African Caribbean woman to be elected to Parliament, Diane Abbott MP advises on how to pursue a career in politics. I've been interested in politics from a very young age. Since junior school, really. I suppose I've been involved in politics, in a real sense, all my life.

My role models are my immediate female relatives. There is a generation of them who came to this country in the '50s - my mother was a nurse, many of my aunts and a few of my cousins are nurses - and worked extremely hard and brought up their families and showed tremendous commitment and courage, making it possible for my generation to do what we have done. So my immediate role models are older women in my family.

I think education is absolutely key. I was active in student politics. When I came down from Cambridge, I got involved in campaigns against police brutality and so on. So, I've always been interested and I've always been involved.

I suppose I first thought of becoming an MP in the mid-'80s. My interest in politics stems from wanting to make a difference.

At the time, there were no African or Asian people in Parliament. There had never been any people of African or Caribbean descent in Parliament. Some of us as Black Labour Party members were campaigning for more Black representation. People said to us, well, there's nobody that wants to stand, why don't you stand? So, that's how the issue first came up for me.