Hello and welcome to this special episode of Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.

I'm Catherine Haddon.

Eighth of March is a commemoration which was first held over 100 years ago before being

officially recognised by the UN for the first time in 1975. Yes, it's International Women's Day.

Now, here in Westminster, there are 263 female MPs. As a point of comparison, there were just 27

female MPs in 1975, two of whom held a position

in the cabinet that year. Another sat as an MP almost all the way through to the 2024 general

election. There was a break. We'll reveal the answer to who those people were at the end of the

podcast. Yes, my panellists can also

have a go if they want. So for today's episode, I'm delighted that we've brought together

three current MPs to find out more about their experiences of what it's like to do the job in

26. We're going to explore how they first found Parliament, the challenges, the surprises and perhaps

frustrations of being a politician, how power works in Parliament and how they have tried

to have influence and impact from government or from the opposition benches.

I'm delighted that we're joined by Dame Karen Bradley, Conservative MP for Staffordshire-Morland since 2010,

a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and the current chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Hi, Karen. Hello. And just Karen's fine. There's no need for Dame. Oh, no, I'm going with all the titles. I didn't introduce myself, as Dr. Catherine had, my mum will be upset.

Dr. Ellie Chown mum all the upset.

Dr. Ellie Chowns has been the Green MP for North Herefordshire since 2024, and is the Green Party group leader in Westminster and their spokesperson on, I think I counted it, six different ministerial portfolios.

Yeah.

Yeah, that is quite a lot.

And Dr. Becky Cooper has been the Labour MP for Worth West since 24 and sits on the Health and Social Care Committee. Hi, Becky. Hello. Right, thank you all for

joining me and making time in what I am sure are very busy diaries. It's amazing to have you all here

...