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Hello, welcome to Political Thinking, a conversation with rather than an interrogation of someone

who shapes our thinking about what has shaped theirs.

My guest this week has described herself as young, black and loud, and she's got plenty

to be loud about.

She's loud with purpose.

She turned the abuse she was subjected to as a child into a powerful campaign to stop

girls around the world suffering as she did.

She called herself the chief fanny defender.

She was opposing FGM, female genital mutilation or cutting girls.

And that was a campaign taken up by Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London.

She became a close friend of his girlfriend and later wife, Carrie Johnson.

And Ali has praised the Prime Minister as a real champion of women's rights and one of

my feminist heroes.

He made her a government adviser on tackling violence against women and girls.

Nimco Ali.

Hi.

Welcome to Political Thinking.

Are you still getting used to being the campaigner who suddenly finds herself on the inside

walking through the corridors of power?

No, I think nothing's really changed in that kind of instance.

The fact that I still see these people that can actually help.

...