[3] Buck first ran for election in 1982, aged 23, as one of the three unsuccessful Labour candidates in Barnet's Mill Hill ward.

[6] In 1986 she stood in Westminster City Council's Cavendish ward, an area straddling Marylebone and the West End of London.

[3] She was elected to Westminster City Council in 1990, representing Queen's Park ward (situated around the area of that name) in a safe seat for her party.

[10] Whilst a councillor, she was involved in exposing the fraudulent behaviour of council leader Shirley Porter and the homes for votes scandal.

However, she did become a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in the wake of the 2005 general election, as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.

[15] During Miliband's tenure as Labour Leader, Buck served as Shadow Minister for Welfare Reform from 2010 to 2011 and Further Education from 2011 to 2013.

[16] Following Labour's defeat at the 2015 election, which saw Buck re-elected with a slightly decreased majority, Miliband resigned as leader.

[18] In December 2018, Buck's Private Member's Bill received Royal Assent as the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act, coming into force on 20 March 2019.

If a landlord failed to let and maintain a property that was fit for human habitation, the Bill would give tenants the right to take action in the courts.

[24] Buck expressed concerns in 2018 that homeless Londoners were forced to move out of the city, stating: "Losing your home is a deeply traumatic event and then being offered accommodation miles away from your community, your work, your children's school and your care responsibilities compounds all that trauma.

In the novel, Jones is a resident of Notting Hill, an area which was part of Buck's original constituency, Regent's Park and Kensington North.