‘I think the party expects the person they elected as their deputy to be part of Labour’s top team in a Labour government’, the former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party writes
I’m really excited about Labour having a new Deputy Leader (though still very sad we lost Angela Rayner).
And whether it’s Bridget Philipson or Lucy Powell who wins, I know they’ll do a great job and wish them well. So as a former deputy leader, I have some sisterly advice for the new Labour Deputy Leader’s first 100 days. You need to take a lead in all the elections that are going on. So, head straight out to Wales and up to Scotland.
It will lift the spirits of the activists you join on wet and windy doorsteps as they work their socks off in the run up to the toughest of elections for the Welsh Synned and the Scottish Parliament next May. Fill your first 100 days with campaign visits to all the places we have council elections next year. It’s a real privilege to do that.
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How many people have a job where they get to go to every part of our beautiful and inspiring country to work with local people determined to change their area for the better? Be really generous and nice to the candidate you beat, be magnanimous to her in victory and avoid any triumphalism.
The Labour Party likes you both, so find an early opportunity to let the party see you working together. Always clear up after yourself on a train. It’s very annoying for the staff when people leave loads of sandwich packets, drink cans. And it’s not a good look when someone tweets a picture of your rubbish.
Listen to and stand up for Labour party members. And support the Prime Minister: being leader is harder than it looks. Enjoy it and get loads of new outfits. Yes, I know too many clothes is an environmental threat but people will always remember meeting their deputy leader and you want to look great.
Finally, I think the party expects the person they elected as their deputy to be part of Labour’s top team in a Labour government. I wasn’t in the cabinet when I won the deputy leadership in 2007 but Gordon immediately put me in.
While Bridget is already a member of the Cabinet, Lucy is not. The winner of the contest will be declared on October 25, after a race that began back on September 9. If Lucy’s elected Deputy I hope Keir Starmer will offer her a seat in the Cabinet which she should accept.
‘Kemi Badenoch will have to eat her words’
I’m sure most people can’t make sense of the collapse of the case against 2 men accused of spying for China. But there are principles at stake. The first is that the foremost duty of government is national security, including stopping spying.
I’m certain the previous government and this one did everything they could to give the Crown Prosecution Service the evidence they needed. Second, it’s important that it’s not the government that decides who to prosecute and who to let off. That’s what Trump’s doing in the USA and it’s a very bad thing. I’m confident no-one in Keir Starmer’s government would have intervened to encourage the CPS to drop the case.
The third principle is that parties should work together on national security. As well as briefing the government, the top security advisors also brief the Opposition on the assumption that we all care more about national security than day to day politics. That’s why I’m shocked that Kemi Baddenoch is using this prosecution shambles to accuse the government of a “squalid coverup”. When proved otherwise she’ll have to eat her words, and her credibility, which is already low, will be damaged beyond repair.
‘Great new campaign on paternity leave is starting’
Time at home with a newborn enables the father to create a bond with the baby and become confident in caring for it. So it’s great that a new campaign on pat leave is starting up led by a group of men calling themselves Dad’s Shift.
There’s a new generation of men out there who want to play an equal role in bringing up their children and know they need time off work for it. They’ve been brought up by my generation of feminists. Welcome to what I call “the sons of the women’s movement”!
‘Michael Gove would be an obvious choice for the Traitors’
We’re currently gripped by Celebrity Traitors. Three people, each bent on winning, band together to banish those who might have sussed them out and be their rivals.
Where have we heard that before? Yes, we badly need the next series to be Political Traitors. For the Tories, Michael Gove would be an obvious choice. Who can forget him declaring his longstanding friend and ally, Boris Johnson, unfit to be Prime Minister (he was right, of course).
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