Joanne Anderson never had any intention of becoming the elected mayor of her city.
In fact her brief foray into local politics was due to come to an end in the spring of 2021 when she intended to step down as a backbench city councillor after just two years.
All that changed when the incumbent mayor and Labour's nomination to continue in the role, Joe Anderson, was arrested and stepped down from his position. After a chaotic selection process saw three existing candidates wiped from the process, the little known councillor with a remarkably similar name to the departing mayor stepped forward.
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Elected in May of that year Joanne Anderson made history as the first directly elected black female mayor. But she inherited an administration in tatters after the publication of a devastating government inspection report and with Whitehall commissioners arriving in the city just a few weeks later.
That election was only two years ago but today, Sunday May 7, is Joanne Anderson's last day as the Mayor of Liverpool. Last year her party controversially voted to remove the position this month and she never intended to continue in frontline politics.
She tells the ECHO while sitting in her large office inside the Cunard Building: "I'm delighted to have my life back to be honest and not feel overwhelmingly responsible for everything that happens here.
"With power comes responsibility, some think it corrupts, I think it reveals and it has revealed a lot about myself. and how I feel about taking responsibility for everything for things that happen and are way out of your control.
She adds: "Look It's been an absolute privilege and an honour to do this job.
"I love that I'm representing Eurovision with this accent and the way I look - a 6ft black woman with a Scouse accent - but yeah I will be looking forward to waking up on Monday morning."
The outgoing mayor is relaxed as she reflects on the highs and lows of a dramatic two years that started with her replacing the entire existing cabinet with fresh faces, facing an enormous budget deficit and as mentioned, winning the rights to host the Eurovision Song Contest in the city on behalf of Ukraine this week.
She said: "We all know it has been tough in terms of what's gone on in the city over the past two years. Someone described this as the best and the worst job in the city and it is.
"I've had the best times and the worst times. I would say 75% are the good times, I love representing my city and being an ambassador, I love being able to steer economic development and putting values into our decision meeting. But yeah, I will look forward to it not being my responsibility anymore."
Asked for a high point and that word Eurovision unsurprisingly comes up again. Enormous preparations have been taking place across Liverpool, with the Pier Head village that sits directly outside the mayor's office officially opened on Friday.
Liverpool fended off competition from many major UK cities to land the contest and the mayor says it was a risk that is already massively paying off.
"I said yes to Eurovision at a difficult time. We had a £70m budget deficit and the commissioners weren't happy about it. I just thought after everything the city has been through in recent years, if we didn't say yes to this then everything is just bad.
"Little did I know how big the economic impact would be. It is way more than we anticipated. For our £2m investment, we have already pulled in £20m and nothing has even happened yet. That's before anyone stays in a hotel in the city. "
Speaking of those government commissioners, one of the mayor's final acts in office was to have a swipe at them. At her final cabinet meeting last month she said she felt the government team had overstepped in changes they had made to her plans for an ethical charter for the council. She said these changes had rendered the policy 'absolutely meaningless.'
But speaking today the mayor says there have only been a few fall-outs or moments she has found 'unacceptable.' She is full of praise for the council's interim chief executive Theresa Grant, who will also step away from the organisation this month to be replaced by the incoming Andrew Lewis.
"Theresa is amazing," says Mayor Anderson with a fond smile. "She is the best there is, she always has a smile on her face but people don't mess with her. She just gets stuff done." With two women in the most senior positions set to be replaced by men could this be considered a backwards step for representation?
"Women in leadership are very capable and have people skills," adds the mayor. "We don't work enough to make sure women are represented.
"Sometimes I look at pictures of myself at events and think, if you took me out of it you are taking the only woman and the only black person out of that room. That's quite worrying and we all need to do more on representation."
If winning and planning Eurovision represents a high point, the lowest points for Mayor Anderson's term in office came on two separate days when Liverpool was rocked by unthinkable tragedy. The murders of 12-year-old Ava White and nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel are crimes this city is still trying to come to terms with.
"On those two days I came into work and three women had actually been killed in the city, two other women died on the same day as those young girls. Everything else I prepared myself for or knew a bit about, I wasn't prepared for that. They have been the hardest moments the darkest days in this job."
When it comes to regrets there is one that the outgoing mayor offers up voluntarily. "I do regret letting everyone know that I wouldn't be standing again," she says candidly, referring to her decision early on to state that she wouldn't go past her one term in office.
"I never had any political ambitions to go beyond this and I thought it would be a strength to say that, but I think when I did, some people just kept their heads down and waited for me to move on. For others I wasn't the future power base so they treated me negatively."
Friday's election results saw Labour comfortably retain power under new group leader Liam Robinson. But the all out elections were part of sweeping electoral reforms brought in by the government after its damning inspection, which also saw Mayor Anderson's term cut to just two years.
"To put everyone out at once like that was quite cruel, it created a power vacuum, it put a bomb under the party."
Like most people seem to be, she is positive about the man set to take over as leader of the council when the mayoralty ends at midnight tonight. Liam Robinson will officially become the leader of the council at a meeting later this month.
"I'm hopeful for the future with Liam," says his outgoing boss. "He's not like what we have had before, what you see is what you get."
One big challenge for Cllr Robinson will be to unite a city Labour party that has been notoriously fractured and factional in the past. It was a challenge Mayor Anderson never really intended to take on in her short time in office.
Speaking about her own experiences with the group, she adds: "There are some people whose behaviour I have found unforgiveable in the wider Liverpool Labour party. Some people were in my faction but the minute I became leader they turned gangster."
One of the big controversies that engulfed the council during the current mayor's time in office concerned her position itself. Having campaigned on a pledge to hold a city-wide referendum on future governance models, the mayor led the council instead into a fairly shambolic consultation that was ignored by the Labour group as they voted to abolish the mayoralty.
"I wish we'd held a referendum," she says now. "We talked ourselves out of it in terms of costs - but just to put it to bed once and for all."
Having previously called for the position to go she says she has seen from the inside how positive it can be. "On the international stage you are treated differently as an elected mayor." With a reference to her predecessor she adds: "I think it's a good thing that has been spoilt for everyone. It's not the model, it was the person."
The mayor consultation debacle came at a difficult time personally for Mayor Anderson. It was around that time that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was having an operation to remove it. She has also undergone a hysterectomy during her time in office.
"I think it would have been better if I was in any other job while going through all that," she says with a wry laugh. "But I've learnt a lot about my own resilience. The fact we have made improvements, delivered on things in my manifesto, while dealing with all that - I think I've done alright."
Asked how she would like to be remembered, the answer is a simple one. "Someone told me recently that I stood up for the city and that was always my main motivation when I put myself forward. I hate our city being negatively stereotyped and I wanted to do a bit of a political reset, I think we have done that. I would like to be remembered for doing what was right and not what was politically appealing.
"I'm proud of delivering on my values, things around social values, community asset transfers, violence against women - I can look myself in the mirror."
So what does the future hold for a departing city mayor? A return to consultancy and work with a tech firm are on the cards. "I haven't had loads of offers, I've applied for a few jobs where there have been hundreds of people going for them," she adds.
"I'd like to get a permanent job because I have been paying for my son to go to university. I'm a single parent and I never thought I would be able to do that for him."
It's been a whirlwind two years for a reluctant politician who found herself running a council and a city in crisis. As she prepares to leave the political stage she is grateful for the support she has been given.
"I'm really grateful for people backing me," she says. "I knew by standing it would have a big impact on black people and women but I've had young, white men say to me 'I feel different about politics now that you're there' - so having that impact on young people means a lot.
"I would do anything for our city and I am so proud of us. Liverpool is really passionate about social justice and we know how to throw a party, which is why having Eurovision here this week is so perfect.
"I'm really looking forward to it, I'm ready for a party."
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