‘Parliament was the most overpoweringly male place I had ever worked’: Diane Abbott on becoming an MP, dating Jeremy Corbyn and media intrusion – exclusive extract

The MP opens up about three pivotal moments in her life in politics

• Read an interview with Diane Abbott here

When I stepped into parliament for the first time as an MP on 17 June 1987, it was a little like the first day at school. While I may have sounded coherent, I was still in a bit of a daze from the night I’d been elected. Of course that didn’t mean I had not thought carefully about what I was going to wear. For such an important occasion I wanted a unique outfit, so I commissioned a skirt suit made to measure from a satin material. The jacket was of fabric that the dressmaker herself had designed, blue with a swirly pattern that was reminiscent of African textiles. The skirt and the lapels of the jacket were black, and I finished off the look with a gold-coloured neckpiece and large gold earrings, with my hair styled in shoulder-length braids. Bernie Grant – the new MP for Tottenham – wore a spectacular agbada, a long, flowing traditional west African robe; we made an eye-catching pair. Our MP friends, including Jeremy Corbyn, made a point of coming up to us, perhaps innocently trying to be friendly, but I always had a slight suspicion that they wanted to be in the iconic, history-making photographs.

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