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Make Me Prime Minister: Meet the Fife woman making pitch for Number 10 in Channel 4 show

Kelly Given, 25, will appear on the new show. Image: Channel 4.Make Me Prime Minister
Kelly Given, 25, will appear on the new show. Image: Channel 4.

A woman from Fife is taking part in a new Channel 4 series to find out if she has what it takes to be prime minister.

Kelly Given, who lives in Edinburgh but hails from Burntisland, is one of 12 candidates making their pitch for the job.

The candidates will be put through their paces on the campaign trail by political heavyweights Alastair Campbell and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.

The judges will set them a number of prime ministerial tasks designed to find out who should be crowned as Channel 4’s Alternative Prime Minister.

Kelly will be joined on the show by candidates including Jackie Weaver, the local government officer who shot to fame during an unruly local parish council meeting that went viral.

Who is Kelly Given?

Kelly, who went to Balwearie High School in Kirkcaldy, works in Edinburgh as an equality and diversity inclusion officer.

The 25-year-old, who has autism and ADHD, campaigns for disability rights and was recently named on the Disability 100 power list.

Describing her political leanings as “very much to the left”, Kelly told the show she has been a member of the SNP since she was 17.

She formerly worked for Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance.

former home secretary Priti Patel
Kelly is no fan of former home secretary Priti Patel

She said: “I believe Scottish independence is the best and only viable vehicle for change in Scotland.”

Naming her political hero as US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Kelly says former home secretary Priti Patel would be her “political villain”.

She said: “She shouldn’t be anywhere near power.”

Kelly says she become interested in politics aged 16.

She told the show: “I was actually getting ready to go to university to study fashion – that’s my other love, I love fashion. But it didn’t really inspire me that much.

Kelly taking part in one of the tasks

“I’m very ambitious and tenacious, and it didn’t really do anything for me. And my mum got really into the Scottish independence referendum, and one night she took me to see a debate, and I found it absolutely fascinating – it really got my brain going.

“And from there, that was it – I’ve never looked back. That was eight years ago.”

What would Kelly do if she was prime minister?

Kelly has set out her priorities if she was given the chance to occupy Number 10.

Asked what law she would pass first, she said: “I would love to see something about neurodivergent inclusion.

“That would benefit the whole of society, it’s not just about including neurodivergent people.

Alastair Campbell and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi will judge the candidates

 

“Making the world kinder for neurodivergent people also makes the world kinder for everybody else.

“One of the things I’ve noticed about Britain is that being miserable just has us all in a choke-hold. Nobody does anything about it. We don’t have to live like this.

“We could choose something better.”

Make Me Prime Minister airs Tuesday September 27 at 9.15pm on Channel 4.

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