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had great flaws as a Prime Minister. But I can never say anything other than he was kind, considerate [and] supportive.
    Although she supported Ed Miliband, the eventual winner of the Labour leadership contest, Dame Joan told him she did not want to serve in his shadow Cabinet:
    I knew at that point I would stand down in 2015. I said to Ed: ‘I’m no good to you. You need to get new people into the shadow portfolios, people you can test out, get rid of if they’re no good. Of course I can do a good job for you in the next few years, but it’s a job that goes nowhere.’
    Dame Joan is nervous about leaving the Commons, but looking forward to making her life her own again:
    I think the great fear of any of us, and certainly I’ve had it at times, is waking up in the morning and knowing that nobody’s going to want anything of you. You won’t have a programme; you won’t have your life controlled. You’ll be a free agent.
    I think that’s one of the reasons why some people can’t leave here, because they are institutionalised. We do live in a very, very severely regimented life.
    From now on, life will be all about taking my own initiative; I will not be reacting to myriad demands, just a whole new world on, on one level leisure and pleasure, but on the other making a contribution. And I can’t think of anything better to do. I think I’ll be OK.
    ***
Dame Joan Ruddock: CV
    Born Pontypool, south Wales; attended Imperial College, London; became a research scientist and chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
    1979: Unsuccessfully fights Newbury
    1987: Elected MP for Lewisham Deptford; becomes shadow Transport Minister
    1989: Introduces Private Members’ Bill to outlaw fly-tipping
    1992: Becomes shadow Home Affairs Minister
    1994: Turns down offer of a post on Treasury team; becomes shadow Environment Minister
    1997: Becomes Women’s Minister
    1998: Returns to back benches
    2003: Introduces Private Members’ Bill that requires local authorities to carry out roadside recycling
    2007: Becomes Climate Change Minister
    2010: Turns down Cabinet post; returns to back benches after election
    2012: Becomes Dame Commander of the British Empire
    2013: Announces she will stand down at the 2015 general election
    Dame Joan Ruddock is married to fellow Labour MP Frank Doran.

SARAH TEATHER
    Sarah Teather , forty, was Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East (2003–10) and Brent Central (2010–15).
    ‘Depressed and exhausted by politics, I went on a religious retreat and spent a month in silence.’
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How did you end up in Parliament?
    My family were profoundly unimpressed when I first said I was going to stand for Parliament. Part of it was because people had pestered me and also … I quite enjoyed campaigning, I enjoyed meeting people.
    They say that’s the sign of a candidate, that you enjoy the door-knocking. I found it fascinating, the people you met on the doorstep who you would never otherwise meet.
How did you feel on first becoming an MP?
    I found Parliament a bit of a curious place. It reminded me of some of the weirder traditions of Cambridge … People say it’s very clubbable; that wasn’t really my experience. I was here quite a long time before I worked out where the members’ dining room was.
    Because I came in as a by-election winner, the normal procedures for induction didn’t happen for me, so nobody showed me round, I wasn’t shown how to do stuff [and] there was no mentoring.
Best of times?
    There are lots. The unrivalled one would be when [former Guantánamo Bay inmate] Jamil el-Banna came home and picked up his daughter for the first time. I had two constituents in Guantánamo Bay and that work, particularly in the parliament from 2005 to 2010, took over my life. It became a complete obsession – that is not an exaggeration.
    There were periods in the lead up to that when it was the last thing I thought about when I went to bed at night and the first thing I thought about when I woke up in