Appearing on The Mirror’s new show Party Games, the Labour MP for Swansea East Carolyn Harris said up until the age of 17 she was a ‘competitive ballroom dancer’
A Labour MP has told of how it would be her “dream” to appear on Strictly Come Dancing.
Appearing on The Mirror’s new show Party Games, Carolyn Harris said up until the age of 17 she was a “competitive ballroom dancer” She said: “As a child I had two interests: politics and ballroom dancing. I was Welsh champion when I was 16 in Latin and American and ballroom.
“Even now I watch Strictly Come Dancing and I spend all my time looking at the foot work and criticising the foot work if they haven’t quite got it right. That’s another dream – Strictly.”
But she suggested the producers of the BBC reality show may not want her on the programme “because I am a trained ballroom dancer”. Asked who her dream partner would be on Strictly, Ms Harris replied: “Brendan Cole – no hesitation. Bad boys, always love bad boys.
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The moment came up as the Labour MP played “2 Truths and a Lie” with The Mirror ’s Sophie Huskisson – and was asked to give two true statements and one fictional tale. Ms Harris raised her ballroom dancing skills and also recalled how she unwittingly switched on the Downing Street Christmas lights while Boris Johnson was Prime Minister.
The Labour said she had been invited to No10 to talk about gambling policy just hours before the Christmas tree lights were switched on in the famous street. She told The Mirror: “I thought the door [of No10] would automatically open. I stand in front of the door and it doesn’t open.
“There’s a box on the wall, I press the box expecting the door to open. The door did open and as I’m walking through this beautiful tree becomes fully lit up and I think ‘oh, it’s lovely!’.
“And the staff are all there very excitedly say ‘yes, and the Prime Minister’s going to turn the lights on in an hour. So I walk out backwards, I re-press the box, I turn the tree off.”
She added: “About an hour later there’s an article online with one of the papers that says ‘Boris Johnson can’t even turn his own Christmas tree lights on’.
“Somebody on the inside of No10 had turned it off at the mains to stop anybody else doing it and they forgot to switch it back on. So he does the whole 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-Merry Christmas, and nothing happens.”
Ms Harris’ fictional tale was that she had once had a speaking part in the BBC-hit drama Gavin and Stacey.
Here’s a look at some of the other stand-out moments from the episode. You can watch the full episode here.
‘What would a Carolyn Harris party look like – what snacks would you bring?’
Carolyn: “I’m not much of a snacker these days since I’ve been taking the mounjaro. I’m nearly eight stone off. I’ve gone from size 24 to size 12 since October, so I am very happy.”
What colour will you dye your hair next?
Carolyn: “I’m trying to be a big girl, I’m trying to be a grown up. When I was larger and had purple hair, I took a huge amount of abuse on social media for having dyed hair and being ‘fat and ugly’ and every other thing.
“When I started losing weight, I started reverting to putting grey in my hair. It makes me look like a grown up and maybe will leave me alone for a little while. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think I’d like to see a little tinge of pink of something but I resist that because I really can’t go down that road of abuse anymore. Too painful.”
What’s the worst part of being an MP?
Carolyn: “The abuse. Without a shadow of a doubt the abuse. The things that people say to you on social media is unbelievable. Why anybody thinks they can speak to people the way that they do to politicians, and women politicians especially, it’s absolutely unbelievable.
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“Interestingly enough, it’s never my politics, it’s never a policy, it’s always how I look.”
What’s the best perk of being an MP?
Carolyn: “Being able to make a difference for people who have not got a voice. That’s the best thing for me. That’s the whole reason I do this job.”
What’s an issue you are passionate about?
Carolyn: “I’m going to talk about women’s health – especially menopause – 51% of the population are women and yet were only now talking about what more we should be doing to make sure that women are healthy, happy, and receive the right kind of respect that they deserve in health provision and especially in the workplace.
“The menopause is a phase of life, which everybody has been afraid to mention. I’m not afraid to mention it and one of my opening lines is ‘vaginal dryness’. And once we say that, the world’s OK.”
If you didn’t work in politics, what job would you have?
Carolyn: “Probably working in some kind of special needs whether it was working with children, with learning difficulties, or working with youngsters with challenging behaviour, or maybe on the brink of offending or on probation. I’m really interested in that kind of work.”
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