I know we will look back on this and think how odd it was we were championing the rights of lone mothers to bring up their children on benefit.

I think a balanced team of men and women makes better decisions. That's one of the reasons why I was prepared to run for deputy leader.

In a country where women regard themselves as equal, they are not prepared to see men running the show themselves.

Is this the situation in the modern Conservative party? That women should be seen and not heard?

There are many women with children under five who want to work and who lack affordable, high-quality child care.

Actually, I don't ever think there will be a men-only team of leadership in the Labour party again. People would look at it and say, 'What? Are there no women in the party to be part of the leadership? Do men want to do it all themselves?' It just won't happen again.

I don't agree with all-male leaderships. Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it's a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership.

I was aware that everybody said I was going to be a vast mega-flop, and that William Hague was just oh-so intelligent, and oh such a great parliamentarian, and therefore so different from me! So I thought, I must deprive them of the satisfaction of proving themselves right.

It's hard to bring up your children on benefit. It's easier if you can do part- time work, or even full-time work, and actually have a better standard of living, and that's the direction in which we are going.

Well, I feel that everybody in the country knows me. I think people know who I am, and that I'm deputy leader of the Labour party, and that I'm out there talking about their big choice for the future.

Well, if you look at the programme that we're offering, I think that is a future which is fair for women as well as men. We're still heavily outnumbered - we're still four to one in parliament - but we are pioneers! We are forging a new path.