Labour Party leadership contender Diane Abbott today underlined her determination to win the contest, declaring herself "on course for No 10".
The 57-year-old Cambridge graduate squeezed on to the five-strong starting line for the leadership race with the help of one of her rivals, David Miliband.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the staunch left-winger spoke of the demands of balancing her responsibilities in Westminster while being a single mother.
Ms Abbott also laid bare her feelings on the breakdown of her marriage, saying she would be open to tying the knot again - "I don't rule it out, not at all."
Her marriage to Richard Thompson, the father of her son, led to divorce after two years.
She said: "I wanted my marriage to work, but it didn't. There's not much more to say, really. When a marriage ends, I don't think it's about blame. It's very lonely bringing up a child on your own.
"I've never felt that I'm better off single, but that's just the way it worked out."
Ms Abbott also defended her much criticised decision to send her son to the fee-paying City of London School.
"I was taught that you sacrifice everything for your child... that school was the making of him."
Ms Abbott sought to distinguish herself from her rivals and in an aside on the Miliband brothers said: "We're selecting from one of the narrowest gene pools in history."
She added there was "a very, very sour strand of thinking in Westminster where insiders think it's outrageous I should run".
Ms Abbott secured the necessary 33 nominations from Labour MPs at the last minute after fellow left-winger John McDonnell withdrew from the contest and offered her his backing to ensure there was a woman on the ballot paper.
Several of the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP's nominators - such as acting leader Harriet Harman and former ministers Jack Straw, Chris Bryant, Phil Woolas and Denis MacShane - do not share her radical views.
Ms Harman made clear she would not vote in the election, but was backing Ms Abbott to ensure it was not a "men only" contest.
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Ms Abbott earlier denied that she was the beneficiary of positive discrimination or was being patronised by rivals such as David Miliband, who spelt her name wrongly as "Dianne" as he announced he was lending her his nomination.
She has said she would stand out from the other candidates because of her "very different view on immigration", her record of opposition to the Iraq War from the start, and her determination to recapture the civil liberties agenda from the Tories and oppose the Government's programme of cuts.
