Dame Margaret Hodge - Battle Axe: a Memoir

Born in Alexandria in 1944 to Jewish parents from Germany and Austria, the politician and life peer arrived in England aged four - stateless, foreign, and an outsider.

She'll describe a lifetime of battling back in a memoir of 50 years as an elected representative, from councilor to council leader, MP to minister.

Called a champagne socialist, a national treasure, a loony leftie, a radical reformer, a traitor, and, yes - a battleaxe, she'll talk about how she hasn't much minded and explain what has always mattered more.Talking to Julia Wheeler(Image: Getty Images)