But eventually, Creasy was victorious, and Gardiner was appointed as a locum MP to take care of Creasy’s community-based work. (Another Labour MP voted on Creasy’s behalf in the Commons, thanks to a proxy voting system introduced on a trial basis last year.) “It’s been a wild ride, I can tell you,” says Gardiner, who previously worked in the charity sector and had no professional political experience.

“When I signed up for the job, I didn’t know we were going to have a general election, then the Labour leadership election, then a global pandemic. I could do with a nice long lie down in a dark room. But it’s been amazing.”

Creasy returned to parliament at the start of June, meaning that Gardiner’s time as a stand-in MP is now over. Does she think it was a success? “I’ve always thought I’d judge that based on whether we convinced anybody else that [maternity cover for MPs] is something that should be done,” she says. “At the moment, we’ve not managed to.” Ipsa currently says the responsibility for implementing official maternity cover for MPs lies with the Commons, and the issue doesn’t seem to be a priority for other MPs right now.

It’s frustrating and disappointing that the next MP who wants to take anything like conventional maternity leave will have to go through the same process as Creasy. But Gardiner plans to keep lobbying for maternity rights. The goal, she says, is a future where maternity cover for MPs is “not just a weird anomaly”.

Below, Gardiner shares the key lessons she learned from being a maternity cover MP.

Kizzy Gardiner: “6 things I learned from being the UK’s first maternity cover MP”