‘I was raped. And my dreams were shattered’ – Gina Miller on abuse, cancer and the toxic race for Cambridge chancellor

‘Our country, and the world in fact, is at a particularly traumatic time in history’ … Gina Miller. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

My first question for Gina Miller is the same one I put to all interviewees – what did you have for breakfast? Since she’s not a chef or a famous foodie, but the businesswoman and activist who fought Boris Johnson over his Brexit plans, and is now standing for chancellor of the University of Cambridge, this is more a journalistic ritual designed to test whether the recording device is working. But her response is startling.

“I rarely have time for breakfast,” says Miller, who turned 60 this year. “I’m only just able to drink coffee again after my chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, which is amazing. As my dose has just been reduced, I was able to have the one cup I’m limited to today.”