Emma Foody: New MP for Cramlington and Killingworth and her dog on their post-election 'whirlwind'

One of the region's newest MPs says life has been a "whirlwind" for her and her dog since being elected on 5 July.

Emma Foody has spent the last two-and-a-half weeks adjusting to her new role as Labour's Member of Parliament for Cramlington and Killingworth.

The 36-year-old is one of more than half of the election-winning candidates in this Parliament who have never been an MP before.

During a walk in Rising Sun Country Park, in Benton, with her dog Roney, Ms Foody told ITV Tyne Tees: “It's been an absolute whirlwind since the election on the fourth of July - going down to London, meeting with different charities, with other MPs, people from the House of Commons.

"It's been an incredible few weeks which I’ve really enjoyed."

Roney, who was by his owner's side as she pounded the streets throughout her campaign, is even tagging along to Parliament.

“He has been on the train down with me - he likes to sit in the aisle so that everyone has to pet him to go past, so he’s been enjoying that," she explained.

"He’s a big part of my life, whatever's going on.”

Born and bred on Tyneside, Ms Foody grew up in the village of Wideopen - part of her new constituency.

Politics was not something she set out to do initially, but found herself falling into it after working for the North East Ambulance Service.

“I first started out as a 999 call handler at North East Ambulance Service," she said. "I saw the cuts that were being made and I wanted to do something about it and I wanted to get more active.

"My journey from then has just been kind of getting more and more involved until it took us to this point.”

With only a fortnight or so under her belt in government, she is already making her family proud.

“My family are very grounding, my dad is incredibly proud," she continued.

"I think he knows how much my grandad would have loved to have seen his granddaughter elected to Parliament, so that’s something that he’s really proud of.”

Ms Foody was sworn in directly after her husband Alex Norris, the MP for Nottingham North.

While this connection means the world of politics is not entirely unfamiliar, it has required her to get to grips with the rules. That includes everything down to the clothes she wears.

“The speaker has strict rules about what you are allowed to wear in the chamber," Ms Foody said. "For men, that means they have to wear a tie otherwise they can expect to not get called to speak in debates.

"Making sure that I’ve got stuff that is appropriate for the chamber is something that I’ve had to do as well.”

And with the excitement over, the newly elected MP's attention is now on recruiting a team and getting on with business.

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