They lived together in Darwin, Northern Territory, where she worked as a social worker in a refuge for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

She moved to the United Kingdom in 1998 when her husband gained a job at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

[6] West joined the Labour Party in 1998 and became a caseworker for Tottenham MP David Lammy two years later.

[4] From 2 May 2002 to 22 May 2014, West was a member of the Islington London Borough Council representing the Tollington Ward.

[7][8][9] Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party, whose campaign she supported, West was promoted to the Official Opposition frontbench as a Shadow Foreign Office Minister.

[12] In January 2017, West voted against triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the process to withdraw from the European Union, along with 46 other Labour Party MPs.

[28] She is married to Colin Sutherland, co-director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Malaria Centre.