When Holly Morgan made it to the final of Channel 4’s Make Me Prime Minister her friends issued her with a warning.
Tuesday night’s task is to impress ex-Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and Sayeeda Warsi, former Co-Chairwoman of the Conservative party, with a speech about a subject of the contestants’ choice.
Holly opted for the issue of institutional racism - even though her friends felt it would cost her the £25,000 cash prize.
“Many, many people said to me: 'Holly, if you talk about this, you're not going to win’,” the qualified solicitor and former footballer told The Mirror.
“‘People don't want to hear about racism. People don't want to accept that it's a problem’.
“But for me, just the thought of being able to stand up on a platform like that and speak my truth, speak about my experiences, and also my hopes for the future - nothing was ever going to get in the way.
“I've been involved in a football environment for 18 years. I’ve experienced racism and discrimination and it's something that I've always been passionate about.
“So I was never going to talk about anything else. Even though there was a cash prize.”
Like many across the UK, Holly has mixed feelings about Rishi Sunak being appointed the country’s first non-white Prime Minister.
“Yes it’s a positive moment in British history that Number 10 has its first Asian Prime Minister, but in my opinion it’s not as transformative of a moment than what I would have hoped. In support of policies such as Rwanda, bringing back Suella Braverman who once said it was her dream to see a plane full with asylum seekers flying off to Rwanda, I am not in celebration of his position as Prime Minister for his policies and hard line view does not reflect nor represent me.
"It’s important to stress that having a person of colour in power does not and should not dilute the argument that this country no longer has issues with institutional racism. It's very profound and it's very much a problem, even though it can be quite hidden.”
"In my speech I talk about the way politicians divide people of colour against people of colour, class against class and my belief that people like Sunak just don't represent the majority of people in this country.”
Asked why she signed up for the show in the first place, Holly explained: “I wanted to see what it's actually like to be a politician. “Because watching the news, seeing these politicians in power, honestly, I just think to myself: ‘Is it really that hard?’ They seem to make such a mess of it!
“I won't disclose what the other finalists speak about in the final. But I did tell them that they probably won't get as much stick or abuse about their subject matter.
“If you're talking about, say, NHS reform for example, you're not going to get abuse on social media from people saying ‘No, that's not true, that's not happening’.
“When you talk about racism, straight up, you get people saying ‘No, that's not true’, ’Why are you stoking the culture wars?’ Or ‘Why are you creating a problem when there isn't one?’
“But for me, it is a problem. It is something that needs to be spoken about. And I'm very vocal about the fact that it's not just Black or Brown people who need to be fighting the fight.
“White people also need to acknowledge, step in and communicate that this is a problem. We all need to come together to be able to change it.”
Leadership has always come naturally to Morgan. Aged 11, she impressed in a trial for Leicester City Women’s football team.
She went on to play for, captain and coach the club, clinching the Championship title in 2021, winning promotion to the high-profile Women’s Super League and deepening the respect she has earned within the sport.
Her time at Leicester came to an end last year when her brother Jonathan left his managerial post and she departed from her position as first-team coach. Her father Rohan had been chairman while her sister Jade had been the general manager since 2015.
Fearless Mum Shirley is the only member of the family not involved in the game but Holly describes her as “the glue keeping us all together”
Holly also credits her time in different roles at Leicester with giving her the confidence to speak up for herself.
“As a captain I was constantly speaking to players, coaches, media outlets or to external bodies. But also I qualified as a solicitor after University so it's something that I've been quite comfortable with in terms of communicating with people.
“My experience at Leicester also helped because the way that it ended wasn't necessarily positive. It's still something to this day that I’d love to talk more about to open people's minds up to just how brutal the football industry is.
“Football is in its own bubble. Clubs are basically above the law in a way. But going on to the TV show, I was able to stay in control of what I did. I knew that if I was going to fall on my sword, I was going to do it my way.”
That included not playing up to the cameras to gain the kind of notoriety that has followed past reality TV contestants.
“You will always see me writing down, listening or just getting on with the task,” she went on. “Not engaging in or wasting my energy on unnecessary bickering, or that kind of stuff that you see every day from politicians.
“I never wanted to be an individual on that show that could be pulled apart. I really wanted to put myself out there as somebody who is serious. It was a serious show in my eyes.”
Holly paid tribute to the support of Baroness Warsi - herself the victim of Islamophobia - who encouraged her to “say it loud, say it clear, say it with your chest” ahead of the final.
“Alistair was somebody that I just clicked with straight away,” she added. “On a one to one basis, we just got on really, really well.
“He's so quick when he speaks and when he's talking about an idea, or what he wants to see. He's incredibly intelligent and I learned a lot from him.
“I learned a lot from both of them. So we were very fortunate to have both of them as mentors on the show.”
