I can remember my first political idea: sitting cross-legged (I was about five) watching the news on my Mum's black and white TV in our council house. I saw rioting in China and I remember for the first time feeling that this was wrong and that people were being misled and I experienced repulsion towards violence. My dad was an active Trade Unionist and ran bits of the local Labour Party - especially its football team (times have changed) and I remember councillors and party workers dropping in for what I thought then were fascinating conversations with my Dad. The estate in Rochdale I grew up on was white working class but the values of the Labour Party were the values of my house - all human beings are equal. My early memories of Manchester were of a place rusting and in decline. A far cry from the shining City it now is! 

Although I studied politics as my first degree at Liverpool my real life was spent in activism - I ran the Students Community Action society doing voluntary work in the community in Liverpool and I was very involved in the student union. Sadly the Labour Party in the area at the time was rife with militant tendency and they didn't like feminists like me! So we didn't get on well. But after I graduated I became the full time Deputy Leader and Secretary of the Student Union and had a good year running my first big organisation.

After graduating I came to London looking for work - it was Thatcher's era and there were four million people on the dole. There was absolutely no work at all in Manchester or Liverpool, but because of my involvement in War on Want, the student unions and the local community I managed to get a job with a terrific little charity called the UK Council for Overseas Students Affairs.  The pay was awful but they were good to work with and I learnt a lot about casework, lobbying, immigration rules and higher and further education.

From that post I went to the Inner London Education Authority and did an evening Masters degree in Adult Education and Human Rights. During this time I wrote a couple of research reports on the position of women within aid programmes and help set up 'The Women and the Third World Working Group' which lobbied the Government and aid agencies to give training and support to women in their programmes - up until then women had been largely ignored.

I worked in a number of development aid based organisations which culminated in me becoming a project manager at the Commonwealth Secretariat  - where I worked on promoting women's equality and supporting Women's Ministries across the Commonwealth. I travelled extensively and enjoyed the hospitality and kindness of people from many nations. I recall suddenly noticing how true it was that nations with a democratic system provided a better quality of life and a more successful economy than not. Democracy is the single thing that makes the difference between whether you have a growing economy, whether there are schools and public services, whether there is justice and whether the police and army behave in a proper way or corruptly.

For a short time I worked as the Head of Public Affairs at the National Federation of Women's' Institutes and then as the National Women's Officer for the Labour Party. I had a great time working in Walworth Road alongside Larry Witty, David Gardner and Sally Morgan who all helped me put together and promote the all women short list proposals to boost our representation in parliament. Clare Short and Mo Mowlem were also active as the chair of the Women's Committee of the NEC and our Shadow Minister for Women.

Having given up my international work I was able to spend more time with my Party! In 1994 as party vice-chair I helped win Croydon Council for the first time. I became a councillor and took to it like a duck to water. Within two years I was Deputy Leader and Chair of Education and when the previous Council Leader was accidentally elected to Parliament in 1997 I became the Leader of the biggest council in London. My first job was to get the budget sorted, but then with financial stability restored focus was on setting up a proper school improvement programme, ensuring universal nursery provision and turning round a failing social services department. I also progressed the Tramlink scheme and had a great time working on regeneration plans for Croydon - the Grants cinema, the skyline lighting schemes - a masterplan for the town centre with Lord Richard Rogers and the establishment of the Croydon Strategic Partnership which became the prototype for the rest of local government.

Come 1999 I was campaigning for the creation of the GLA and the restoration of London's government because it was obvious to me as a Council leader that there was so much that we couldn't do alone as local government. We needed a regional body and therefore it was natural to me that I would want to be involved in setting it up.

I was elected to the GLA in 2000 and until May 2008, I was the Chair of London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority which runs London Fire Brigade. My mission was to bring the Brigade into the 21st Century, improve equipment, training, the equalities and culture of the service. We have created a much more rational planning process which allows us to identify London's safety risks and to focus on tackling them. When the Brigade performed so magnificently during the 7/7 incidents I felt some satisfaction that years of hard work has been worthwhile. 

The worse time during my chair-ship was of course the dispute, when the Fire Brigades Union took its members out on strike basically in opposition to modernisation and for a major pay hike.  Eventually we managed to get some sort of deal done - a pay increase for modernisation. When I look at how we have managed since then to halve the numbers of fire deaths in London and massively reduce arson and attendance to hoax calls I feel strongly that it was a battle worth fighting.

We now, of course, have a new Conservative Mayor, Boris Johnson and a new Liberal Democrat/Conservative government. I was disappointed to be removed from LFEPA last year, but it will always be a proud period in my life. I am now turning my attention to policing in London, with my appointment to the Metropolitan Police Authority. Along with the entire public sector, the Met are facing huge budget cuts, and I am determined to fight hard to retain police numbers in London and defend our excellent Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

I take a close interest in a wide range of projects and policy areas. Through my committee work and constituency work at the GLA I have been able to promote the Cross River Tram project for Lambeth and Southwark - one of the projects sadly dropped by Mayor Johnson shortly after his election - and argue for better policing in my constituency.

In May 2008 I became chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, a post I hold again this year.  I am really concerned about the Mayor's record - he has ditched valuable and popular projects, puts the needs of car drivers ahead of those of cyclists and pedestrians, with policies about 'smoothing traffic flow' and so on. I continue to work for better transport options for all Londoners, and am determind to ensure that South London in particular, is not neglected by the 'central London focussed' policies of the new Mayor.

Transport is an enormous environmental issue for London and we need to reduce damaging impact of London's Transport system on the atmosphere. We have shown that given the right encouragement and facilities Londoners will give up their car journeys for public transport and the bike. It's a mission of huge importance to keep that change moving forwards.

Having been a feminist all my life I recognise that older people in the UK are subject to degradation and insult in our society and in our institutions I have a personal commitment to fighting the disrespect which is shown towards the elderly. I feel very strongly that drug dealing is the single biggest social (and economic) problem in my community - I believe that drug users should be penalised as well as the dealers.

I count myself privileged to have served the community, to be member of the family of the Labour Party and to have friends and family like Jane and Mick my husband - pictured with me in 2002 when I received the CBE for services to local government.

I have been a Council Leader and Chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. Although I am now in opposition on the Assembly - I am looking forwards to fighting for the travelling public in London and campaigning to protect our global environment as Chair of the Assembly Transport Committee.