Born on a council estate in Edinburgh, 27-year-old Danielle Rowley comes from a family of Labour Party activists and hit the doors campaigning as a teenager.

After graduating with a journalism degree from the city’s Edinburgh Napier University, Rowley worked for Gordon Brown’s office as a media manager during the Scottish Independence Referendum campaign before moving to work for the housing charity Shelter.

But having stood for the Scottish Youth Parliament, her real ambition was to secure a role in frontline politics was her real ambition.

Her chance arrived sooner than expected when Theresa May called a snap General Election in June, and after being selected as the Midlothian candidate, Rowley earned her stripes with a feat managed by just a handful of MPs north of the Border – beating the SNP.

Since vowing to stamp out the need for food banks in her maiden speech, she has chaired Richard Leonard’s successful campaign to become Scottish Labour Leader after Kezia Dugdale’s shock resignation.

A strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, Rowley is also Parliamentary Private Secretary to Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, the MP favoured by many trade unionists to replace the leader. 

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in Edinburgh and have lived in Midlothian my whole life, and in my current home since I was two.

I wanted to study English after leaving school, and to become a writer.

I’ve been interested in politics for most of my life in different ways. For a start, my family are very political. My parents and all four grandparents have been active in politics and trade unions throughout their lives, and so have talked to me a lot about people working together to make society a better place. I’ve also always taken a keen interest in getting involved. At high school I was on the school’s pupil council, and as a teenager I was a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament.            

I really admire Jennie Lee, the former Scottish Labour MP. She worked to make university education accessible to anyone – regardless of background – playing a key role in the establishment of the Open University. 

I was recently in Ottawa at an Inter-Parliamentary Union conference with a Conservative MP, Ranil Jayawardena. We couldn’t be further apart politically – we basically didn’t agree on anything at all – but I think because of that we managed to not talk too much about policy and actually got on fairly well. I learned about his family, his daughters, and his community, which is very different from mine. And hopefully he learned a thing or two from me as well.      

I was a Campaigns and Public Affairs Officer for the fantastic housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland. I absolutely loved my job and all of the people I got to work with. As long as I’m working in a role where I am helping people then I’m happy! 

I think the Department for Work and Pensions, as I would have the power to create a fairer society, including a fairer workplace, and to ensure that vulnerable people and our elderly are well supported.