I am very clear that I am elected by the people of Rotherham

This week I had the opportunity to congratulate Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham on her appointment to Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet in roll of Shadow minister for preventing domestic violence and abuse. I asked her if she now saw herself as a Westminster politician or as a local politician. She said “I still struggle to see myself as a politician. I am very clear that I am elected by the people of Rotherham to represent them and campaign for them local and national issues. While I have Labour values, and I am proud to be a Labour MP, the people of Rotherham are my bosses and its them I feel responsible to”. She went on to add “I guess that’s a long winded way of saying that I see myself as a local politician who has to travel to Westminster to serve Rotherham the best I can”.

In July last year after the shocking revelations of sexual grooming in Rotherham, Ms Champion helped secure a change in the law that meant Police can act sooner in child grooming cases, meaning that someone arranging to meet a child with the intention of carrying out a sexual offence can now be convicted immediately, rather than having to be caught twice. I asked Sarah if getting the law changed was her biggest achievement so far. “Legislatively, undoubtedly”, she said. “It is virtually impossible for a backbencher in opposition to change the law so I’m delighted I could do so as it will protect children for generations. However, I am most proud at being able to lobby on behalf of the victims of child sexual exploitation, to get them support and more importantly, listened to both locally and nationally”.

Sarah was one of the 36 MP’s who nominated Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership race. I asked her if she thought he could lead the party into the next election. “Looking at the major climb-down the government has had to do over tax credits, yes, if we keep going in this vein, I believe Jeremy can lead us into the next election and to victory”. She told me. With this in mind I asked if she thought that regaining power should be secondary to sticking to principles, or should the party be looking for power at any cost.

“Personally, I believe that our principles and values are the thing that will get us re-elected”.  She stressed that losing them would be a disaster but added “However I do fully understand that principles and values without power are simply hollow words!”

Before entering into politics in 2012, Sarah Champion was Chief executive of charity Bluebell Wood children’s hospice. Prior to that she ran the Rotherham Arts Centre and volunteered for St Luke’s hospice. I put it to her that in contrast to many other MPs she had started her career in a proper job.  I asked if working in an environment like St Luke’s had better equipped her to understand the issues facing normal people.

She began her answer by saying she didn’t make a distinction between herself and normal people. She added that would like see politicians fully representing the diversity of our country in both their life and work experiences. That is the way that we will get the best legislation and the best democracy she insisted.
When standing successfully for election as deputy leader of the Labour party, Tom Watson said that he wanted to see a much more digital approach from politicians. Pointing out to Sarah that her personal twitter account boasts more than 12,000 followers, I asked if she agreed with Tom Watson that politicians need to connect more digitally to engage with young people.

“I am a huge fan of Twitter (not least because without it she and I wouldn’t have connected, she said kindly), I think it is vital that politicians use as many forms of communication as possible so that we can reach the broadest number of people. I get very frustrated when I hear that young people aren’t interested in politics, as that is not my experience at all. Young people don’t engage in politics through the old channels so it is our duty to reach out to them and make ourselves accessible. Social media really helps me hugely with that”.

Sarah Champion followed me on twitter after I posted a tweet saying; “oh! How I wish Sarah champion would follow me”. She did, showing she has a sense of humour as well being good to her word.