“I just think women do politics differently. For Nicholas, I have always thought they were important because he’s always been about trying to shape what the Tory party is. Yet for an opposition MP, Smeeth points out, making friends on the governing side can be one of the few ways of exerting influence on behalf of their constituents. A female Tory MP who had lost a child broke down in tears outside the chamber, and Smeeth instinctively felt protective. “I knew you were a Tory MP, but you were never a standard Tory MP,” laughs Reed, who is the Labour and Co-operative party MP for Croydon North.

Source: The Guardian October 15, 2017 07:30 UTC