Part of my job as chief executive of Islington LBC is to speak to large groups of people – perhaps as many as 200 people on any given day.

On more than a few occasions when speaking, an overwhelming surge of heat will come over me – an intense, distracting sensation. It feels like nothing you've experienced before. I try to carry on and hope no one notices, but I am often standing there talking to people from inside my own personal furnace.