For the past 18 years, I have worked alongside my husband, Damon Harvey, championing the success of local business, enterprise, and industry while raising a very busy family of five daughters. Then, along the way, came politics. In our work, there have been times when we have challenged both sides of the political fence. In doing so, we have always agreed to stand strongly together, passionate about putting our home region first and foremost. But what triggered me to stand for the Labour Party came in a speech given by the principal of Frimley Primary School, Malcolm Dixon. In all the years I'd been attending the girls' school prize-giving, I never once heard Malcolm be political—but this year, he never held back. He talked about all that was going wrong in our education system under a regime of standardising our children, and the detrimental impact this was having by taking his staff away from doing the most important job of all: having the time to teach. He called on us, as parents, to challenge the Government. I listened, angry, upset, and disappointed in myself for not being more aware of what was going on in my children's education. For I knew what it was like to be told when you were only as good as average.