WHAT I’M CALLED: Liz Leffman.

AGE: 62.

WHAT I DO: For the past 20 years, I have run my own business, Clothesource. As well as this, I am a trustee of my local Citizens’ Advice Bureau (West Oxfordshire), where I am responsible for social policy. I am also chair of a charity called the Kairos Foundation, which teaches self-esteem courses. And in 2005 and 2010, I was a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate in the General Elections. I’m very actively involved with the Lib Dems.

WHERE I LIVE: I live in Charlbury – we moved here from London in 2001.

WHO I LOVE: My husband, Mike Flanagan, and I have been together since we were 25. My mother, who is 90, is still very much alive, and I have two sisters, seven nieces and nephews and a great-niece, all of whom I love dearly. And last but not least there is my dog, Jed, a rescue cocker spaniel, who I adore.

HAPPIEST YEAR: 1976 – the first year I had a proper job. I worked for a large London advertising agency and every day was amazing – I couldn’t sleep for excitement for the first few weeks.

DARKEST MOMENT: Losing the 2010 General Election in Meon Valley in Hampshire. I was driving to the count when my agent called me to say that it wasn’t looking very good. The count finished at 5am – I had to pretend all night that it was going okay when I knew it wasn’t.

PROUDEST BOAST: I stood against David Cameron in Witney at the 2005 General Election. A gentleman who attended one of the hustings told me afterwards that if he weren’t a dyed-in-the-wool Tory, he would have voted for me, as he thought I was the best person on the platform.

WORST WEAKNESS: Impatience.

LESSONS LEARNED: I’ve learned to accept that I’m just a human being like everyone else, that all I can do is my best in any situation, and that that is enough.

DULLEST JOB: I’ve enjoyed something about all the jobs I’ve had. The job I liked least was being deputy chief executive of a factory in the Midlands making T-shirts for M&S – that was because I had to spend all week away from home, so I was very lonely.

GREATEST SHAME: When I was living in Rome aged 18, I went to a café and ordered a coffee. Then I realised I only had enough money to pay for either the coffee or the bus. I decided on the bus and ran away when the waiter wasn’t looking. I only stopped running when I was round the corner and could disappear into the crowd.

LIFELONG HERO: Paul McCartney. We went to see him live in Liverpool just before Christmas. He was absolutely brilliant and it was like being 14 again.

OLDEST FRIEND: My oldest friend is called Corinna. I met her at university and she later worked with my husband and introduced us.

WIDEST SMILE: My great-niece Ayla, who is nearly two – she is absolutely gorgeous!

FAVOURITE DREAM: That one day I will face David Cameron in the Commons, not just on a hustings platform.

BIGGEST REGRET: As a schoolgirl I was very rebellious. My school wanted me to apply to Oxford or Cambridge, but I wanted to get out of school as fast as I could. I will never know if Oxford or Cambridge would have accepted me, as I never applied.