When the taxi driver didn't show up and I had to make 3 more calls to the taxi service which ate up all my phone credit, which as a student was quite limited at the best of times, I finally had my tripod me and my bag on the way to the bus stop and after a quick bolt round the blocks and I made it to on to the coach with a few minutes to spare. I was finally on way to London to meet MP Jo Swinson, the first on my list of VIPs I had managed to get interviews with in the big city.
Her assistant Hanna had been a darling and sent me a map of the Parliamentary estate to make it easy for me to find and my bus was on time so I made it there well before the scheduled time. Once I had been through security check: imaged and badged I made my way to the lobby to wait. In spite of the slight panic in the morning I had made it there 20 minutes early, phew!
As I sat there dressed in my black trousers and jacket with high heel boots underneath – they're a steal from a trip to Canada and always do wonders for my confidence, high heels always do that for a woman – and a pink tartan corset. The tartan was a coincidence that didn't actually strike me till I walking out the door to Jo Swinson's office about an hour later.
I had met local councillors but I had never met an MP and Jo Swinson did make an impression on me partly because she was so full of life and intelligence just radiated out of her head like some kind of inner halogen. She looked so young and driven that I was really inspired by her enthusiasm and in awe of her understanding and experience in foreign affairs.
She is actually one of the youngest Mps, the youngest I think till Chloe Smith was elected and still the youngest Lib Dem MP . The interview was enlightening and she was a good interviewee from a technical radio point of view. When you're talking to high profile people you need to know what you're talking about and I think I made the impression of a journalist who deserved credibility.
30 minutes of questioning and answering and I now knew what happened in the run up to the invasion, what the underlying issues of controversy were and what the country was really hoping to see come out of this inquiry which hadn't from previous inquiries.
I also had a compliment to take with me. As I was leaving Jo commented on my pink tartan and I could resist following my smiling 'thank you' with a ' I haven't actually been to Scotland yet, but I'd love to as soon as I get the chance. I picked this up, believe it or not, in Poland”
Interview with Jo Swinson
Also see Jo Swinson interview on the Iraq Inquiry Digest
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