Diane Abbott, MP

Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was appointed as Shadow Home Secretary in October 2016. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington at the 1987 general election, when she became the first black woman to have a seat in the House of Commons.

• Wikipedia: Diane Abbott

Re: Her photo at age 7 (see Media tab)::

I look a bit of a goody-two shoes in this picture - and I probably was, to be honest. I was about seven or eight when it was taken - at Vaughan Road Primary School in Harrow, northwest London, where I went from the ages of five to 11.

We didn't actually have a uniform, but my mother, an old-fashioned West Indian, wanted me to go to school in as close to what she thought a uniform should look like as possible. So she laboriously made dresses for me to wear.

The picture shows me wearing a winter gymslip. I actually hated gymslips - I longed to wear a dress from M&S, like the other girls, but daren't tell my mother!

My parents - my mother, Julie, was a nurse before she had me, and my father, Reg, was a welder - were born in the same village in Jamaica. They had left school at 14, but believed in the importance of education.

Mum would always insist on my brother, Hugh - a year my junior - and I doing our homework before we were allowed to watch television. I was also encouraged to read, which held me in good stead at school.

Landmar: Diane became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons in 1987 Indeed, my school essays were so good that they were regularly read out in class. I wasn't very good at sport, though - despite some of the teachers thinking I'd be a natural at netball, simply because I was West Indian.

In my final year at Vaughan Road I took my 11-plus and got into Harrow County Grammar School for Girls - which thrilled my parents - where I spent the next seven years.

By this time I was becoming opinionated and rebellious; I was always talking at the back of the classroom, and I think the teachers regarded me as too lippy for my own good.

But while I often handed in my homework late, I continued to do well academically - particularly at English, history and art - much to my teachers' annoyance, I suspect. I got seven As in my O-levels, and did well in my A-levels, too.

I was never afraid to speak out. For instance, in the sixth form, another girl and I were so far ahead of the rest of the class in English that we asked if we could be excused attending.

It might sound arrogant, but we weren't learning anything. So we were excused - and still both got As.

I ended up staying on at school for an extra year to prepare for an exam I needed to take if I was to achieve my dream of going to Oxford or Cambridge. No one in my family had been to university and my parents had no idea I was applying - my mother would have been quite happy if I'd become a nurse, like her.

So it was my decision alone; one of my teachers thought I wasn't up to it, which made me even more determined. I was probably the only black girl at Harrow County, but it wasn't a problem for me. I was used to it - my brother and I had been the only black kids at my primary school.

I never encountered any overt racism at school, though I do occasionally wonder whether the attempts made to dissuade me from applying for Oxbridge were linked to my colour. But my memories of school are overwhelmingly positive. I made some good friends at Harrow County, some of whom I still see from time to time. I also remember one teacher, Mrs Landry - who sadly died recently - particularly fondly. She taught me English, and helped give me the confidence to apply for Oxbridge.

I joined the school's drama society, which was called Convergence because it consisted of boys and girls from Harrow County's boys' and girls' schools. That was when I first got to know Michael Portillo - my fellow pundit on This Week - as well as the presenter Clive Anderson, and Sir Nigel Sheinwald [Britain's current ambassador to the US] who were all at the boys' school. And while I didn't land any starring roles, I was cast as a villager in T.S. Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral. Michael, if my memory serves me correctly, played one of the murderers.

But while I was already fascinated by politics, and took a particular interest in the civil rights struggle in the US, I had no ambition then to enter politics myself.

After leaving Harrow County I went to Cambridge to study history. I was the only black person at my college. Initially, I was unhappy there; I felt very isolated as most of the other students oozed public-school confidence, and even the ones who hadn't gone to public school seemed quite posh. In time, though, I found my feet and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

After university, I went into the Home Office before getting involved in community politics, becoming a Labour councillor and, in due course, an MP, much to my mother's delight.

Looking back, I was lucky to go to Harrow County, because it not only gave me a very good education, but it also taught me I was as good as anybody else. And Cambridge was life-changing in that it made me self-reliant.

All my life - be it at school or university, on television or in parliament - I've often ended up being one of the first black people to make a mark in a particular field. So I see no reason why my colour should be a bar to my becoming the first black leader of a major political party.