As a career foreign correspondent for Reuters News Agency, I’ve seen what happens when democratic systems falter and fail. After breaking my neck covering the Sri Lankan Civil War, I found myself completely paralysed and dependent on the welfare state. Without a compensation package won by my trade union solicitor, I would have spent the last five years in a nursing home. I get why the country needs our party, and that’s why I joined. I helped coordinate Labour Friends of the Forces during the 2017 election campaign, and since 2018 I have been fundraising officer for Vauxhall CLP.