Hannah Spencer’s maiden speech in the Commons – a cheerful and upbeat performance – was pegged to International Women’s Day. We learned that some girls went to school that day actually dressed as Hannah the plumber, complete with trademark hair. She was understandably chuffed about this. It is, to be honest, hard to imagine little boys going to school dressed as Matthew Goodwin, her defeated Reform rival, which is one of the unfairnesses of gender politics.

I was intending to write about what she didn’t talk about, namely anything to do with Green issues – biodiversity, sustainable farming, the energy cost of data processing centres – but I was frankly distracted by her clothes. One of the reasons why Hannah Spencer came across well in the Gorton and Denton campaign is that she is not just an attractive blonde but embraces colour in a system in which safe dullness alternates with bad taste. Her trademark colourful blouse with waistcoat looked fabulous on election night – lime green with........

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