A self-declared “mischief-maker”, Carol Vorderman spent her late teens running wild in the nightclubs of north Wales and Manchester, before becoming one of Britain’s best loved broadcasters as co-host of the gameshow Countdown. But it’s in her sixties that her fearless streak has come into its own as a leading voice in the fightback against inequality and corruption in Britain. This surprising second act began almost three years ago when Vorderman fired off her first political tweet, incensed by a news story about the Tory government’s PPE scandal.

In summer 2024 Vorderman used her decades of experience in broadcasting to deliver the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture at Edinburgh TV festival deriding “an industry of snobbery – regional snobbery, class snobbery and educational snobbery” while calling for better access and inclusivity. With her first political book, Now What? On a Mission to Fix Broken Britain recently out in paperback, newly signed Nerve contributing editor gamely answers our questionnaire.

Who's your current political hero / heroine?

Andy Burnham. I want him to be running as the Labour leader for the next election. I also admire Ed Davey because he seems to be the only leader with any kind of morality about him. Every day he’s pounding it out on Instagram. And I'm pleased the Greens are stepping up, going on the attack. 

But I have the greatest respect for Andy. He's honest, very experienced in Westminster politics and well loved. He’s the king of the north!

Would you ever stand as an MP?

Only if Andy asked me! I’m not planning on standing for anything.

What's annoying you at the moment?

A lot! Number one – as someone who's worked in TV for 43 years – is how many editors are taking ridiculous far-right subjects and discussing them when they shouldn't be given oxygen. On television, you have a responsibility not to normalise outrageous behaviour.

The whole flag thing has been exacerbated by the media. There’s a complete lack of context, talking about flag worshipping as if it's normal, when it’s obvious it’s about racism and the far-right movement.

The Guardian did an FOI on those arrested in last year's summer riots outside hotels. Nationwide, 41% of them had been reported previously for domestic abuse. The riot in Bristol – two thirds of them had been reported for domestic abuse. Our media should be talking about that, asking, "Why is there this correlation?"

And what has given you hope?

The number of people who are being positive and helping. Like the Chinese takeaway in York run by a family that has been there 14 years where someone had graffitied "Go Home" and the England flag. A cleaning company just went round free of charge and cleaned it. The majority are good people.

What do you always carry with you?

I often go out without my phone. I don't like to be attached all the time. I'm not remotely terrified of missing a call or message. 

What's your favourite sweary phrase?

“For fuck’s sake”. I can't do it on TV, but I love swearing. It’s so expressive. By the way - FFS also stands for Farage Foot Soldier, as I call them.

One thing you wish you'd known at 18?

Well, I knew a lot at 18. I was from poverty, so I knew how hard you had to fight. I went to university at 17 and I was a bit of a cocky girl. It didn't faze me. 

Your favourite decade?

The 1980s. I graduated in 1981 and I was 20 years old. I had my first job but my mum had left my stepfather and we had all our stuff in an old Datsun car. I had a boyfriend in Yorkshire who I adored and I used to go up to Leeds once a fortnight. I discovered that it was cheap to buy a little house and I said to mum, "This can't go on. You get a job, I’ll get a transfer and I'll find us a house."

Three weeks after we moved, mum saw an article in the Yorkshire Evening Post for a new show called Countdown. Yorkshire Television couldn't find anyone who could do the numbers games. She wrote a letter, put in my graduation photo and sent it off without me knowing.

Then everything started, everything was exciting. It was the first time for this, the first time for that. I adored living in Leeds. And everyone who worked at Yorkshire Television was so friendly. 90-something percent of us were working class. We had a right bloody laugh. You felt as though you could do anything. We were all on the same side.

When was your political awakening?

Before I started at Cambridge university, the Cambridge Union Society sent a flyer about how they were the most amazing thing, so many prime ministers had been a member, all of that. So my mother coughed up however much money it was in 1978 for me to join. 

It was a revelation to come face to face with that side of British society. They were mainly public school and I was a free school meals kid. I'd worked on building sites and had been going to Manchester nightclubs since I was 15 or 16. I went once and I thought, what a pile of shit, this is really childish. 

The balance is better nowadays. I'm an honorary fellow of my Cambridge college, Sidney Sussex, and they take part in a foundation year scholarship programme. If you are super bright and from a similar background to mine, you're invited to spend a year at the college and taught in a particular way. If you achieve a certain grade you then get a place as an undergraduate. 

If you were PM?

I would ban anyone who's done PPE at Oxford from ever having a position in Cabinet. No career politicians! They have done nothing in society.

What brings you joy?

Waking up and appreciating everything that I have. I've been very poorly for almost a year and I've always been a super healthy person, so it hit me like a bloody brick wall. But I'm on the right medicine now and it’s all good.

Where do you have your best ideas?

Walking, I would say. Walking increases the amount of oxygen to the brain. When you're running, it tends to go to the muscles. And it’s not just about the oxygen, but also how the rhythm of walking can coincide with the heart pumping blood. It's almost like a pressure wave when you stamp down that sends more blood back up to the brain. Leave the phone at home and go for a walk.

Tell us about a book that’s recently inspired you?

I've just finished Crooked Cross by Sally Carson. It was written in the 1930s and set in 1933 when Hitler came to power. It’s about a working-class family in Bavaria. One of the girls goes out with a surgeon who was Christian but had a Jewish surname, Weissmann. Two of her brothers join the Nazi party because they can’t get jobs.

It very subtly shows how people persuaded themselves that certain things were normal. This goes back to what I was saying about the media. When Nick Griffin went on Question Time there was an absolute furore about it 20 years ago. There should still be a furore, but now it's normalised.

The book shows how newspapers went quiet on various things, such as when they started sending communists to Dachau in the early '30s. We've always had a right-wing press here, but now TV and Ofcom is just lying on its back. How GB News has not been taken off is a disgrace. Ofcom has no teeth whatsoever. And Labour's doing nothing about it.

Finally….romance or sex?  

I am possibly the least romantic woman you'll ever come across. I can do it for a day, for a holiday just about. But take Valentine's Day. It's a pile of crap, isn't it? So sex. Absolutely. Definitely.