A researcher has to be able to identify key points and suggest intelligent questions.
— Jo Swinson
Being an MP is quite a strange job, because you do it in two different places. Half the time I'm in Westminster and the other half I'm in my constituency and the job is different in both of them.
If you're going for an interview, you will dress smartly and look the part, that is absolutely fine, but it's just the level to which this becomes the ultimate focus of everything, where you have people who won't go to school unless they've put their make-up on, or won't leave the house unless they've spent two hours getting ready.
So I hope women will consider a life in politics. We need women, you see. We need them.
My mum used to send me cuttings from the local paper about people who'd got married as a kind of 'hint hint'. But then there was one cutting about my home seat's boundary changes, and how it might be good for the Liberal Democrats, and I knew this was an opportunity.
I'm not supporting Jeremy Corbyn. If we are to have an election I would fight as Lib Dem leader as the party of remain that hasn't equivocated on this like Jeremy Corbyn.
I'm the leader that can be the rallying point for the liberal movement that we need to create to take on the forces of nationalism and populism, the likes of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.
One of the things I love most about Lib Dem members is that for all our policy disagreements, we agree on why we're Lib Dems in the first place.
If you look at the role models that are out there, the women that tend to be photographed tend to be actresses and models, whereas the men are often in the media because of what they do in terms of business and sport.
I love Harriet Harman, she is a supporter of women of all parties, a kind word, a friendly voice, and this country is lucky to have her.
There is this big yawning gap in the middle of British politics, the Conservative and Labour parties have gone to the edges. In this divided, polarised world, the pragmatic centre ground is a bit unloved.
We have a massive shortage of engineers and one of the big glaring holes is that we have so few women doing engineering - it's less than 10 per cent of the workforce.
In some ways the fact that you are sometimes confronted with people who have such an opposite view to you on certain issues in many ways reinforces that identity that you have.
People in Scotland want to have Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU, and that's what the Liberal Democrats are arguing for.
I would encourage anyone who shares our liberal values in or outside parliament to join our party and join our liberal movement. Our door is absolutely open.
I have ruled out Coalitions with Brexiteers because it's so fundamentally opposed to our values.
I think it's important that we challenge the idea that women who have babies are not fit for work and don't have value. There is massive pregnancy discrimination, in parliament and right across society.
Having studied politics doesn't necessarily give you political nous.
There is, I think, far too much guilt generally in society around parenthood, about whether or not you breastfeed or whether or not you bottle feed. We know the evidence is very strong in favour of breastfeeding and the benefits of that, but it shouldn't mean we make people feel bad if they can't do that for some reason.
Research shows that when children have no body confidence at school they're less likely to put their hand up in class and ask a question.
I'm a massive feminist, but I think it's a little unfair on the other sex saying they're not in it to change the world.
If there was a Liberal Democrat government, there clearly would be women in the Liberal Democrat Cabinet.
Whether it is throwing people under the bus or writing a lie on the side of one: Britain deserves better than Boris Johnson.
I respect everyone's right to their own religious beliefs, but for me, this cannot extend to our education system treating some people's lives and identities as if they are somehow less worthy of respect or love.
Equalities issues are a key part of the Liberal Democrats and under my leadership we would push for them at every opportunity - whether in government or not.
Two weeks into looking after a newborn, you don't necessarily feel as if you've got it all under control. It's just turned your life absolutely upside down, and I think there are a lot of parents who would feel that having the opportunity for both parents to be around in those early weeks would be something that would be really, really valuable.
Politicians should be judged on their actions, rather than necessarily their views on scripture.
We champion freedom - but Brexit will mean the next generation is less free to live, work and love across Europe.
Having a child is difficult enough already, bringing with it a whole range of wonderful challenges, and we shouldn't be trying to guilt parents into 'there is just one way to do it'.
I want to lead the Liberal Democrats so that we can build a liberal movement to stand up to those nationalist forces and stop Brexit, then transform our broken economy so that it is focused on the long-term and works for both people and our planet, tackling poverty and averting climate crisis.
I want to stay in the European Union which is the best trade deal we could possibly have, but we need to call out racism.
We need to transform the economy so it works for people and the planet.
I loved reading. I was one of those kids who was supposed to go to bed but had a torch under the duvet. That love of reading stayed with me.
When I was a little girl, about eight, I remember going into the Body Shop - that was my first introduction to campaigning. There would always be a petition at the till about fair-trade or stop testing on animals, and the message was: get involved and make change.
In Westminster, I make sure I maximise my ability to represent my constituents. I can do that in a variety of ways: by asking written questions or questions in the House of Commons, through the scrutiny of bills and by sitting on the environmental audit select committee every week, as well as other committees.
I think it's been lovely the way people have been really supportive in parliament of my pregnancy.
I know as an aunt, you fall into the trap of turning to your niece and saying, 'you look beautiful' - because of course all children do look beautiful - but if the message they get is that is what's important and that is what gets praise, then that's not necessarily the most positive message you want them to hear.
The piece of legislation that I'm so excited and delighted to be doing is shared parental leave.
Do I want more women elected to Parliament? Absolutely. I devote significant amounts of time to getting more women in that situation.
I have no limits to my ambition for the Liberal Democrats.
Education is there to help our children negotiate the world and understand the communities they're a part of. We owe it to them to provide them with the best information we can to live their lives happily, safely, and without discrimination.
You look at the sports pages and you'd often be forgiven for thinking women didn't do sport.
But I don't feel that as a politician I'm hugely different. Obviously I have a different set of experiences that chime with experiences that many of my constituents have. I think I essentially still have the same set of values and the issues that are important to me don't seem to have changed hugely.
My experience in government is there is a whole host of unintended consequences you have to think through. I can't un-know that, I find it harder now to offer simple solutions.
So much of what young people perceive about their body image is taken from watching their parents... I think we need to look at ways we can help parents pass on more positive messages to their children, and perhaps some of that can be done through health visitors, for example.
I'm perhaps not the most tribal of politicians. Working in a mature and adult way where you recognise what your shared goal is and you manage to work towards that... that is not something which I think would be particularly more difficult with Labour than it is with the Conservatives.
The rise of populism has steadily coalesced movements of millions of people around its divisive us-against-them rhetoric, motivating so many more people to become active political campaigners and party members to champion the case for liberal democracy.
I think our stance on Brexit has perhaps been one of the most powerful things in helping people to recognise the values of the Liberal Democrats.
A book I often refer to by Naomi Klein is called 'No Is Not Enough'. It's not enough to be against something. You have to actually be for something. A better alternative. For me, that's about transformation.
I still have a good girl deep inside, but also recognise that it's worth saying things people will disagree with or get annoyed.
