Hello and welcome to Woman of Balls, where I, Katie Balls, speak to today's trailblazers.

My guest today was born in Seascale in Cumbria. The granddaughter of a minor and a farmer,

she attended Winton School before spending five years at Sellefield, a nuclear power company.

She went on to work at Copeland Council for another six, while completing a foundation degree at Salford University,

before being selected to run as a conservative candidate in the 2017 Copeland by-election.

It was the first win for a governing party in a by-election since 1982.

As the first time Coteman had elected to Conservative MP since 1931,

it was also seen as a major blow for Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party.

On arrival in Parliament, the Times sketch writer Patrick Kidd described her debut speaking in the Commons as a maiden speech swan-like in its grace and beauty.

In it, she thanked her daughters. Having four daughters aged 14, 15, 17 and 18, I was delighted to tip the balance of female MPs to 456,

equalling the balance between all of history's women members and the current

number of male members, she said. Since becoming an MP, she has introduced a 10-minute rule

bill to ban wild animals and circuses, sat on the Education Committee, and served as a parliamentary

private secretary for several departments. In December 2019, she went further

and was made Boris Johnson's PPS. On her appointment, she said, to serve the Prime Minister so

closely in Parliament is a huge responsibility and an honour and one which I will take incredibly

seriously. So to discuss that and more, my guest today is Trudy Harrison.

So thank you very much for joining us today, Trudy. We really appreciate you finding the time.

On this podcast, we like to begin by asking everyone the same question, which is, would you

describe yours as a happy childhood?

Yes, absolutely, yes. It was a very nurturing, loving childhood. I was very fortunate to be born into a kind

family. And whilst my dad worked away from home most of the time, I think he was probably

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