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Interviews

Oona King: My financial life

Oona King is battling with the eccentric Boris Johnson in the mayoral campaign, in her bid to become the first black female to lead the capital. She talks to Pride about money and being persistent.

Money  Mindset
I’m not a business person, but I have been entrepreneurial in politics. I set up the all-party group on genocide prevention and raised about £40,000 a year for five years. It nearly killed me, but I did it. I’m most passionate about investing in families, children and young people. The first 18 months are the most important in a person’s life, and we have to protect investment in children, which is why I am so worried about cutbacks to programmes such as Sure Start.

Blow the Budget
My extravagant purchases are holidays. I believe in spending good holidays with families, and last Christmas I went with the family and my father to Atlanta, which was not cheap. So, when you spend that much on holidays, you have to spend less on clothes, and I’m a TopShop girl! I also love going away to any of the Greek islands. Of course, MPs are paid fairly well, but when I was MP at Bethnal Green and Bow, I had to remortgage my house twice to pay for the costs of constituency offices and surgeries, so I’m probably the only person who ended up paying money, even though I was paid from the public purse.

 Humble  Beginnings
I was taught – or rather, it was ingrained in me – that we didn’t have much money. It was my mother who taught me, and I also internalized the fact that “money doesn’t grow on trees”. I wouldn’t ask for things, but I didn’t know it stressed my mum out. I think the first time I did ask for something, I was 11 years old.

 My First Job
I worked in McDonald’s and was paid £1.19 an hour. But I was 14, and when my mum found out, she made me write a letter to the manager telling him the truth about how old I was. I was sacked for being underage! I can’t remember what I’d spent my first pay-packet on, to be honest, but it was probably on music. Bernie Grant was the man who helped me out and gave me a break in politics. He helped me get my first political job. I wrote to lots of MPs, asking to work for them, and he put me on to a network that eventually led to me getting a job as an intern in Brussels. It was tough to get selected. I tried 14 different times to be selected as an MP or MEP before I got selected as the parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow. You have got to be persistent.

 Shop till  you drop
I usually only buy clothes if they are on sale. Yesterday’s purchase was a bunch of summer sandals – £11, half-price at Accessorize! I had six credit cards at one point, but when I got married I cut back on them. My husband cut most of them up, and now I’ve only got the one!

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