Moving on... in opposition

What do you do once your days in power are over?

A question facing many an ex-Labour MP in recent weeks.

One described the process of losing their seat as "like a bereavement": perhaps unsurprisingly then, many have been reluctant to talk to us recently.

Anne Snelgrove, the former Labour MP for Swindon South, took some persuading, but eventually let our cameras in.

She has the dubious honour of losing a seat Labour had held since it was created in 1997.

But she says she has no regrets.

"It's sad. I lived with it for five years... But my conscience is clear, I did my best for Swindon."

She defended Labour's spending record, and told us she was worried about cuts - like those to the South West Regional Development Agency - which could impact badly on her town.

Anne is now helping co-ordinate Ed Balls' bid to be Labour leader: a poisoned chalice perhaps, if the coalition survives?

But no real surprise, given that Mr Balls is seen as a close ally of Gordon Brown, whose Parliamentary Private Secretary, affectionately known as his hugger-in-chief, was... Anne Snelgrove.

"Ed has the right mixture of toughness and emotional intelligence," she said.

Although she admits that the contender - like Gordon Brown - may need to change the perception people have of him, if he's to succeed in a media-driven age.

It seems then that you can take the woman out of politics, but not politics out of the woman.