Bridget Phillipson becomes first minister to enter race to become deputy Labour leader
Good morning. Yesterday around a dozen Labour MPs were being named as potential candidates for the deputy leadership, but it is mathematically impossible for more than four of them to get the required number of nominations and quite possible that only two or three will manage it. And, with hustings scheduled for tomorrow, any serious candidates are going to have to declare today.
This morning Bridget Phillipson has announced that she is standing. As a woman, who is not from London (she is MP for Houghton and Sunderland South) and a loyalist (she is education secretary), she has all the qualities mentioned by Harriet Harman yesterday as ideal for the next deputy leader.
Here is the statement Phillipson has issued:
Today I am putting myself forward as a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour party, to unite our great party and deliver for working people.
I am a proud working-class woman from the north-east. I have come from a single parent family on a tough council street, all the way to the cabinet, determined to deliver better life chances for young people growing up in our country.
I’ve taken on powerful vested interests in the education sector – and even as they threw everything at me, I have never taken a backwards step. I will bring that same determination to every battle ahead of us.
Because make no mistake: we are in a fight. We all know the dangers Reform poses our country.
But not only am I ready for it: I’ve proven we can do it. I’ve shown we can beat Farage in the north-east, while staying true to the Labour party’s values of equality, fairness and social justice.
With me as deputy leader we will beat them right across the country and unite to deliver the opportunity that working people across this great country deserve.
The only other candidate to have formally declared so far is Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a leftwinger, who may struggle to get the 80 MPs nominations needed.
As a cabinet minister, Phillipson will be seen (fairly or not) as the leadership candidate. In the current climate, that is probably not an advantage in an election open to all Labour party members, but a lot will depend on who is on the final ballot. It is hard to imagine that Phillipson won’t get the 80 names. There is less clarity about who else might be there.
Phillipson has got an ideal platform today; she is speaking at the TUC conference in Brighton.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
10am: Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, gives evidence to the Commons culture committee.
11am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on welfare.
11.30am: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs debate the Diego Garcia military base and British Indian Ocean Territory bill, that implements the treaty transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Afternoon: Phillipson speaks at the TUC conference in Brighton.
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Key events
Streeting suggests Labour needs deputy leader from outside London to ‘broaden perspectives’
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, hasn’t just been on the Today programme this morning; he has been doing a media round, promoting the new NHS league tables for England, and in other interviews he has revealed more about why he is not committing to backing Bridget Phillipson for deputy leader at this point. (See 8.35am.)
In an interview with Times Radio, Streeting said he would “certainly prefer the next deputy leader to be a woman”.
Speaking to LBC, Streeting said that, although Phillipson would be a good choice, there were other “great” women candidates too.
[Phillipson] would definitely be a great deputy leader if she was chosen. There are other women in the race who I think would also be great deputy leaders. So I’m not endorsing anyone at this stage.
Streeting may have been thinking in particular of Alison McGovern, who is now housing minister and who is considering standing for deputy leader. Streeting and McGovern were involved with Progress (now called Progressive Britain), the “centrist” Labour group that kept Blairism in the party alive during the Corbyn years. McGovern was Progress chair.
In his interview with Times Radio, Streeting also had a mild dig at Emily Thornberry, who is actively canvassing support for a bid, saying that as a London MP he did not think she would be suitable. He said:
Without being disrespectful to some brilliant women in London who are standing, like Emily Thornberry [whom] I’ve got a lot of respect for, I can well understand why lots of my colleagues are saying we should have a deputy leader from outside London to broaden perspectives, broaden the base.
If Thornberry were to win the deputy leadership, Labour would have a leader, a deputy PM and a deputy leader who were all London MPs and lawyers.
Wes Streeting welcomes ‘brilliant’ Bridget Phillipson standing for deputy leader – but without confirming he will vote for her
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has welcomed Bridget Phillipson’s decison to stand for Labour deputy leader – but without confirming that he will actually vote for her.
In an interview on the Today programme, asked if he would be voting for Phillipson, Streeting replied:
I haven’t decided yet. I’m delighted Bridget Phillipson has thrown her hat into the ring. She is a brilliant education secretary. We come from very similar working class backgrounds, Bridget in the north-east of England, me in east London, and she has made a big contribution to the Labour party’s success getting elected into government, and she is part of the team that is now delivering change.
There are other candidates who I think also have that kind of background, that kind of campaigning record.
Like other Labour MPs, I’ll be listening intently as they set out their stores this week, and then deciding who I’ll cast my nomination for.
When it was put to him that Phillipson was clearly the leadership candidate, and that he would be expected to vote for her, Streeting disputed that, and said “we’re not afraid of debate”.
Asked to explain what the role of deputy leader meant, now that Keir Starmer has decoupled it from being deputy PM, Streeting replied:
Campaigner in chief is the job of the deputy leader, to ensure the electoral success of the Labour party at the ballot box, in order that we get permission to change communities, locally or the country in the case of general elections, or the Scottish and Welsh elections that are coming up.
That does mean helping Labour’s appeal. It does mean making sure that we are holding our coalition of voters together, and that is the fundamental job.
Bridget Phillipson becomes first minister to enter race to become deputy Labour leader
Good morning. Yesterday around a dozen Labour MPs were being named as potential candidates for the deputy leadership, but it is mathematically impossible for more than four of them to get the required number of nominations and quite possible that only two or three will manage it. And, with hustings scheduled for tomorrow, any serious candidates are going to have to declare today.
This morning Bridget Phillipson has announced that she is standing. As a woman, who is not from London (she is MP for Houghton and Sunderland South) and a loyalist (she is education secretary), she has all the qualities mentioned by Harriet Harman yesterday as ideal for the next deputy leader.
Here is the statement Phillipson has issued:
Today I am putting myself forward as a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour party, to unite our great party and deliver for working people.
I am a proud working-class woman from the north-east. I have come from a single parent family on a tough council street, all the way to the cabinet, determined to deliver better life chances for young people growing up in our country.
I’ve taken on powerful vested interests in the education sector – and even as they threw everything at me, I have never taken a backwards step. I will bring that same determination to every battle ahead of us.
Because make no mistake: we are in a fight. We all know the dangers Reform poses our country.
But not only am I ready for it: I’ve proven we can do it. I’ve shown we can beat Farage in the north-east, while staying true to the Labour party’s values of equality, fairness and social justice.
With me as deputy leader we will beat them right across the country and unite to deliver the opportunity that working people across this great country deserve.
The only other candidate to have formally declared so far is Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a leftwinger, who may struggle to get the 80 MPs nominations needed.
As a cabinet minister, Phillipson will be seen (fairly or not) as the leadership candidate. In the current climate, that is probably not an advantage in an election open to all Labour party members, but a lot will depend on who is on the final ballot. It is hard to imagine that Phillipson won’t get the 80 names. There is less clarity about who else might be there.
Phillipson has got an ideal platform today; she is speaking at the TUC conference in Brighton.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
10am: Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, gives evidence to the Commons culture committee.
11am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on welfare.
11.30am: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs debate the Diego Garcia military base and British Indian Ocean Territory bill, that implements the treaty transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Afternoon: Phillipson speaks at the TUC conference in Brighton.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm BST at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
