Show 373. Amy Callaghan
Matt Forde's Political Party
The Political Party
4.7 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amy has led an extraordinary life and she's still only in her 30s.
While the SNP MP for East Dunbartonshire she suffered a brain hemorrhage. As she recovered, she had to battle the arcane rules of the House of Commons in order to speak and vote on behalf of her constituents.
Having narrowly beaten Jo Swinson in 2019, Amy then lost the seat in 2024. So what's life like outside of politics? And what does the future hold for her?
This is a great chat about life and how fragile it is. And what that means for politics.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Grand Sumo Tournament comes to the Royal Albert Hall. |
| 0:05.0 | Over 40 elite sumo wrestlers from Japan will battle for the coveted title of Grand Champion over five days. |
| 0:14.0 | Witness the battle of power and endurance between these great athletes. |
| 0:19.0 | From the 15th to the 19th of October. |
| 0:23.0 | For tickets and more information, head to royal alberthall.com. Hello and welcome to the political party. |
| 0:43.3 | Today's guest is Amy Callahan, who was the SMP health spokesperson in the House of Commons |
| 0:48.6 | and was the MP for East Dunbartonshire from 2019 to 2024. |
| 0:53.8 | You may remember she beat Joe Swinson, that iconic image of Nicola Sturgeon celebrating |
| 0:58.2 | at the back of the hall. |
| 1:00.1 | But Amy's time in Parliament really was disrupted is not a word of sufficient magnitude. |
| 1:06.3 | She had a brain hemorrhage. |
| 1:07.6 | This was in her 20s. |
| 1:09.3 | And we'll talk about this just how hard it was for her to |
| 1:12.6 | then be able to dispatch her duties as an MP, how difficult the system made it, the working |
| 1:18.5 | practices of the House of Commons, were not helpful towards someone in her position, which is terrible. |
| 1:24.0 | When you think we've had, well, we mentioned Anne Begg in the interview. |
| 1:27.6 | That was years ago. |
| 1:28.8 | And yet, aiming at to fight and claw for all these rights that now will benefit future parliamentarians, |
| 1:34.2 | and by extension, their constituents. |
| 1:36.6 | But this is just incredible. |
| 1:38.8 | She'd had skin cancer as well in the past, so she had huge health problems to overcome. |
| 1:44.0 | And we talk about, obviously, the personal nature of that, but also how it's affected |
... |
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