Tracey Crouch interview: I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a minister

Usually when the Prime Minister offers a backbencher their first ministerial post, they trip over their shoelaces in the rush to accept. Not so Tracey Crouch. Even though she had been waiting for five years to be promoted – having previously been considered too rebellious – and even though she had always wanted to be Sports Minister, she hesitated when the call finally came after the General Election to offer her just that. Instead of accepting at once, she told the Prime Minister she wasn’t sure.

The reason she gave David Cameron was one many women shy away from when discussing their careers. ‘I said I wasn’t sure because I wanted to start a family and I said it so very honestly. I said to him I’m 40, I want to start a family, that I’d had a miscarriage during the election and it had changed my priorities on life in general.’