Being in politics for any amount of time, at any level, required being made of stern stuff. That was true whether a person was on the front lines, like the MPs, or back of house, behind the scenes, like me—little more than a cog in the machine. Pitfalls lay everywhere. Your opponents were constantly waiting for any missteps that could be exploited and amplified. Critics were relentless, and public sentiment felt as if it could shift so quickly and so easily. I was sure a person needed a spine of steel to survive in these halls, and so long as I was crying in a bathroom, I was sure I didn’t
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