“People often ask me about my experiences before entering politics.

One of my earliest jobs was during my gap year when I worked for Madame Tussaud’s. My job was to sell pictures to tourists of themselves standing next to a waxwork of Benny Hill! The outfit for this job, incidentally, was vile!

During my years at University, I had a number of catering, waitressing and bar jobs. My claim to fame is that I was turned down by George Best for a job in his wine bar for ‘not being classy enough’. I was also a painter and decorator during this time, as well as a photographer’s assistant and briefly even a film company runner.

After leaving college, I started work full-time as a sales rep and delivery driver for a small publishing firm. For this job, I was paid commission only for selling and delivering books around Greater London and Essex. Many of the authors I used to sell books for live in Castle Point. At this time, I also worked weekends for seven years as a sales assistant at a gift and bookshop to help towards mortgage costs.

Later, I became marketing director of the publishers firm – a position I held until the sale of the company in 2007, when I decided to focus full-time on politics.

Ironically for such an important role, there is no formal training for an MP, so I tried to get as much political experience as possible. I campaigned on green belt protection and on the campaign to Keep the Pound for the Conservative Party before the 2001 General Election.

Three years later, I was invited to be Special Advisor for the Shadow Secretary of State for Trade & Industry because of my small business experience. I also worked part-time in an MP’s office while I was Parliamentary Candidate for Castle Point to get a solid grounding in the day-to-day work of an MP.

Since being elected as Member of Parliament in 2010, I have been working full-time for the people of Castle Point. I have no second job or any other source of income other than my parliamentary salary.”