Oona King: You Ask The Questions

When you were five, you wanted to become Prime Minister - will you ever achieve your ambition? And what is a Blair Babe anyway?

Oona King was born in 1967 in Sheffield, although she was brought up in Camden, London. Her father, an African-American, is a professor of political science and her mother, from Newcastle, is a teacher. After graduating in politics from York University, she became a researcher in the European Parliament where she met her Italian husband, Tiberio Santomarco. In 1995, she became a trade union officer for the GMB before being elected as MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in the 1997 Labour landslide. She is currently Private Parliamentary Secretary to Patricia Hewitt at the Department of Trade and Industry. She and her husband live in Mile End, east London.

Oona King was born in 1967 in Sheffield, although she was brought up in Camden, London. Her father, an African-American, is a professor of political science and her mother, from Newcastle, is a teacher. After graduating in politics from York University, she became a researcher in the European Parliament where she met her Italian husband, Tiberio Santomarco. In 1995, she became a trade union officer for the GMB before being elected as MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in the 1997 Labour landslide. She is currently Private Parliamentary Secretary to Patricia Hewitt at the Department of Trade and Industry. She and her husband live in Mile End, east London.

You pledged to become Prime Minister when you were five years old. When do you think you'll achieve your ambition?
Pat Vickers, by e-mail

It's true I wanted to be Prime Minister from a very young age. Happily, this was a childish ambition I've now outgrown. I just don't have the temperament for it. As a backbench MP I spend more than 90 per cent of my waking hours on my job. Tony Blair spends over 98 per cent of his waking hours on his job. On the other hand, I hear George Bush does a three-hour day when someone helps him with his concentration span. I have an American passport, so maybe...

What are the most important things you've learnt since becoming an MP?
Clare Flintoff, Newcastle

1) Be the first to ask. 2) Be persistent beyond the point of rudeness (on behalf of others). 3) An individual can still change the world. 4) Keep taking decisions - indecision can be worse than a bad decision. 5) Authority doesn't require arrogance. 6) An updated filing system is the key to happiness. 7) It's never over till you're dead.

Which British politician, living or dead, would you like to have round for dinner?
Anna Essex, Whitley Bay

King Harold. All that 1066 stuff - what a palaver. I'd also like to meet Sylvia Pankhurst. She helped organise the matchstick girls' strike in the 1880s, and there's a blue plaque at the bottom of my street to mark where she based her union. I'd like to know what she thinks about certain things, from the persistent pay gap between men and women, the role of trades union today, to Mile End as a nice, local neighbourhood.

What photos do you have on your desk in your Westminster office?
Jim Patmore, London

My uncle, an African-American civil rights leader, talking to Martin Luther King; John Travolta dancing in Saturday Night Fever, white suit on, finger pointing in the air; my husband DJ-ing; my dad in the Oval Office with President Clinton, receiving a presidential pardon after being convicted of trumped-up racist charges in Georgia in the 1960s. Although his conviction was clearly racist, it was difficult to prove until the 96-year-old white judge who convicted my dad wrote to Clinton, basically saying, 'I convicted Preston King because he was black. I was racist.' Top result, which meant my dad was allowed home to Georgia after 40 years in exile. That photo reminds me that nightmares can last a lifetime, but dreams sometimes come true.

How well do you balance your work with your life?
Rose Carlyle, Glasgow

Much better than I used to, although I still regularly work 9am-midnight. During the first three years after I was elected, there was no balance at all. I often worked all night in my Westminster office; I did a 36-hour day, and imagined I could clear my inbox. I also imagined my marriage could survive on thin air. My husband had to say he was leaving for me to come to my senses. Now I recognise what's possible and what's not, and I've learnt to prioritise the most important things.

In fact, the picture of my dad with Clinton symbolises the turning point. I got an invitation to go to the White House, but I'd already booked a long-awaited break with my husband, so I asked myself, 'Who's more important, the man you married or the American President?' The answer was obvious, so I didn't go to Washington. If I'd asked myself the same question three years earlier, I'd have been at the Oval Office quicker than you could say, 'Great MP photo-op'.

Were you a Blair Babe? Are you a Blair Babe? And what is a Blair Babe anyway?
Gurinder Singh, London

I let media stereotypes wash over me, and don't really give them much thought; life's too short. But if you ask me, 'Do you agree with everything Tony Blair does?', the answer is of course not.

An MP is supposed to at least try to represent their constituents. So how can you justify supporting the illegal war in Iraq when the majority of your constituents opposed it?
Kevin Blowe, by e-mail

On an issue of war and peace, an MP has to do what she thinks is right, not what someone else thinks is right. That's why, when I was asked in February 1998 to vote with the Government to take military action against Saddam Hussein, to get him to comply with UN resolutions, I said no. I felt he should be given more time, and that if he was, maybe he would comply with UN weapons inspectors. Tony Blair was pressing for action on Iraq long before George Bush stole the American presidency, and long before September 11.

Five years went by. In that time (before most people in Britain or the rest of the world were taking any interest in Iraq), I sat on a Select Committee of Inquiry into the plight of Iraqi civilians. I raised the fact that the sanctions regime had caused the deaths of half a million children. I called in Parliament for the British Government to take action to get rid of Saddam Hussein. And when that opportunity came, I backed it. There was no way, for me personally, that I could say, 'Give him more time'. Since the last time I'd said that, he'd killed 100,000 people. Just because George Bush is a disgrace to democracy doesn't mean that Saddam Hussein should get away with genocide. That is my strongly held view.

When they ask for your race and nationality on the census form or other official documents, what do you put?
Becca Meyer, London

Black British/mixed race, or black/Jewish mixed race. On my mum's side, my grandparents were very poor Irish and Scottish on one side, and Hungarian Jewish on the other, though both were born and brought up in Newcastle and thought of themselves as Geordies. My dad's dad was African-American, as was his mum, most likely from West Africa originally, although my gran was also an eighth Native American Indian, with probably some former white slave master thrown in for good measure. So that makes me... a Londoner.

How easy is it to be both sane and an MP?
Leila Tyler, Walsall

It's quite difficult. Every time there's a vote, insanely loud bells start ringing, and you can't help thinking 'The bells, the bells', as MPs tumble out of nooks and crannies all over Parliament. The building itself is demented, with tricky back passageways everywhere. I once got lost inside Big Ben at 2am and went round in circles for hours, and to this day don't know how I got in or out. Anyway, walking round in circles in the middle of the night is de rigueur - they call it voting.