SOPHIE WALKER & NIMCO ALI
Sophie Walker, 46, and FGM campaigner Nimco Ali, 35, met in 2015 at the first meeting of the Women’s Equality Party. After Sophie became its leader, she asked Nimco to stand as a candidate in Hornsey and Wood Green in last year’s snap election. It’s clear that their friendship is one of love and respect. They are also fiercely protective of one another, supporting each other through the gruelling experience of being a woman in British politics. But they still find time to joke about their sex lives…
SW:
I remember Nimco joining that first meeting and just thinking, ‘Here’s someone who is going to tell us how it is.’ That’s the same now: the reason I’m friends with Nimco is that she’s always there to give you a straight answer.
NA:
I went into that meeting as somebody who hadn’t done as much as everyone else there, and I was second-guessing myself. Sophie has done a lot, but she still has the humility to ask for help and to ask if she’s doing it right. To me, that’s the sign of good leadership. That’s why I’m always there to say, ‘Hell yeah! You’re doing the right thing.’ Being a woman in politics can be quite brutal, but it’s nice to look over at someone like you and see that you’re not mad.
SW:
Or at least if you are, that someone else is too! I often just text Nimco to say, ‘ You’re right about what you’re saying and I love you. Don’t flinch. Don’t blink. Hold your nerve.’ But when we’re not talking about work, we talk about Nimco’s sex life!
NA:
We do have honest conversations about love, like when we talk about how Sophie met her husband. I do believe in meeting someone and knowing they’re the one. It’s being honest in the way that you talk about relationships. We talk about the guilt of not seeing our families too: Sophie has a young daughter and I have a young niece. I try not to feel guilty that we’re not there all the time because we’re changing the world for them.
SW:
We do have a good gossip as well. There are a lot of, ‘Oh my God, did you see that?’ moments and a lot of screengrabs.
NA:
There are so many people who throw shade and shit at us. We don’t partake, we just send it to each other. It helps us to laugh about it.
SW:
The 2017 general election was probably the hardest moment of our friendship. It was the first big one we fought as a party, and we took it seriously. I knocked on 31,000 doors in the end. It was difficult having asked Nimco to stand and then seeing the abuse she got. There were death threats and the police had to investigate. I feel so bad about it.
NA:
The election was brutal. Sophie felt so guilty for asking me to stand – I was only doing it because Sophie is the leader. As soon as it was over, I was like, ‘I’ll never stand again.’ But if there was an election tomorrow, I’d stand in the same position. And that’s why Sophie should never feel guilty. I was proud to stand.