Rachel Hopkins MP - Shadow Veterans' Minister and her first podcast interview

Veterans In Politics- Season 6, Episode 5- Rachel Hopkins MP- Shadow Veterans' Minister in her first ever podcast interview.<br/><br/>We return with yet another Shadow Defence team interview with newly appointed Shadow Minister Rachel Hopkins MP.  We have sat down with two of her predecessors and were only too pleased to be able to record this chat with her, in what is her first ever podcast interview!<br/><br/>We chat about the term 'veteran' and its application Vs the term 'ex forces' as well as her efforts engaging with the armed forces community in her role as Labour's lead on veterans' affairs.<br/> <br/>And here's a little about Rachel:<br/>'I’m local and love my diverse home town of Luton where I have lived virtually all my life. I was born in the Luton & Dunstable Hospital, I grew up in Biscot and went to Denbigh High School. I studied at Luton Sixth Form College, before going to Leicester University. My first Saturday job was in Littlewoods in the Arndale (now Primark) and my first full-time job was at the TSB bank customer service centre that used to be on Cardiff Road. Later on in life, as part of my 20+ year career working in the public sector and wider civil service, I studied part-time for a Masters degree at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton.I live in High Town with my partner Iain and, like you, I use our local services – I take the train from Luton Station, I shop locally (on High Town Road or Bury Park Sainsbury’s) and have gone to Woodland Avenue GP surgery since I was a baby! I’m active in supporting our Luton community, I’ve been a governor at Luton Sixth Form College since 2014 and I’m a regular volunteer at Luton Foodbank.Having spent my life in Luton, with family and friends across the constituency, I know Luton South like the back of my hand.Since childhood, I’ve always stood up for fairness and equality for all. This developed into a deep sense of social justice, which I have held all my life, and that is why I joined the Labour Party as a teenager. As a trade unionist, I have stood up for people’s rights at work and against attacks on pay and pensions.'For more information on our epic sponsors Salesforce, see here: https://www.salesforce.com/uk/<br/>and Vetforce, here: https://veterans.force.com/s/<br/><br/>And Rachel's website is here: Rachel Hopkins MP