Why Nobody Needs To Listen To Jess Phillips Anymore. Ever.
I published a piece a few hours ago regarding Jess Phillips. I did my best to be pleasant and give her and her colleagues the benefit of the doubt — despite seeing absolutely no reason I should do so.
I feel I should clarify. Yesterday I tweeted at Jess regarding the fact the PLP had chosen to put forward Owen as a candidate over Angela. It got a fair few retweets and people decided to see it as her being called out on something. To an extent it was that, but it was also an attempt to engage in dialogue with people on the other side of the chasm that now exists between the membership and the PLP. I also feel that far too many genuine issues are lost to pointless attacks, and so I put on my Columbo hat (incidentally I have no idea if he wears a hat…. Or who he is, other than a fictional detective) and ‘engaged’. I put speech marks around it because it wasn’t real engagement. It was baiting. Not for any malevolent purposes, but because I wanted to know whether there was a genuine issue within the PLP (note: PLP, not membership) — but more importantly I wanted her to acknowledge that changing the leader did not fix anything.
Eventually she responded claiming not to have seen my tweets, despite responding to someone who retweeted me. Perhaps I am not being very charitable, but I do struggle to see why someone retweeting my tweet to her — with 79% more troll added — would get a response when I did not. It is completely possible that she did not see it.
As she had chosen to ignore my much longer series of tweets following my original retweet, I reformulated it in a way she might be willing to respond to; that is to say I did not mention BAME issues or solidarity.
“Was just asking about under representation and whether that’s a problem in the PLP that can’t be solved with a leader change? I thought Angela was better positioned, and we both know Owen isn’t a panacea for women’s issues — JC may need to do more.”
This question I got what I felt was a reasonable answer to, and I chose to end things on a pleasant note. I toyed mentally with writing something positive about the experience, and having had two reasonable conversations with other Owen Smith supporters recently — I wrote ‘Why We Actually Need to Listen to MPs Like Jess Phillips’.
It did not open particularly controversially and I wish to make clear there are certain aspects of it I stand by. I stand by everything I said about solidarity. I stand by my points about BLMUK and women’s issues in the party. I stand by everything I said about us acknowledging what MPs are saying. I stand by my belief that all women shortlists have advantages, and I stand by my defence of John McDonnell! The man did not insult all his colleagues. He insulted plotters. If you aren’t a plotter, there’s no reason to be offended. If you are, you are fucking useless!
If you have noticed a change in my tone it’s because, well firstly I love John McDonnell — but it’s also because I am very aware I offered defences for two people I disagree with. I offered these defences partially because they seemed human, and partially as a sounding board to see whether people were at all receptive to them. I think my defences of them were about as generous as anyone could ask — given I can’t actually justify their behaviour. I took on the role of whatever clown is currently fighting to keep new members from voting; fighting a battle in which I knew I was wrong, but thought maybe there was an angle.
I was more than happy for this to convince people if it would, I wanted to believe it myself. I scrolled back through her timeline and didn’t find anything too objectionable — so I crafted the best argument possible to humanise her. I did this because I had felt I’d had a genuine conversation with someone that I’d only heard spoke of before. She signed off with: “people like you draw me closer every day. Thanks for being lovely and reasonable”
I didn’t feel I had made too much of an effort to be reasonable, I rather felt I’d managed to get her to answer a pretty important question about the party — but I then thought about the abuse she has invariably taken and decided “Today, Dewi — you help start building bridges”. So earlier I composed an article which I am not retracting nor deleting, but having seen how she talks to people generally on Twitter — I no longer feel as if I need that bridge. She can be removed from the list of MPs I say I stand shoulder to shoulder with, not because my definition of solidarity has changed; but because I have witnessed her weaponise her gender in a way I find most unbecoming of a parliamentarian.
I no longer read The Guardian, but having seen her interview there I feel that I should do my job. I started blogging because #WeAreHisMedia — and this story requires a narrative that nobody else will give. Corbyn’s team get a small ‘response’, but the narrative has been set by Ms. Phillips.
At this stage if you haven’t read my last piece — don’t feel you need to. It’s still available, I only reference it because of quite how sympathetic I was and quite how difficult it was for me to adopt that position. I intentionally placed a few qualifiers in the article such as the ‘angle’ being ‘inspired’ by a conversation with her. I also speculated as to what she meant by certain quotes in as favourable a way as possible — even managing to defend Angela Eagle’s libellous accusations. I say all these things because I am completely out of sympathy and so will now dissect her conversation with me — pulling no punches.
“yes there’s a problem that rears its head in every part of our party and all I imagine. I don’t think 1 thing will change it it is present in the PLP too. I don’t think JC is committed to doing anything to change it, but it was their [sic] before he was” — Jess Phillips
Ok, so I have no interest in what The Guardian’s say, but let us unpack her response to my question regarding the culture within the party. She believes that sexism is prevalent throughout the Labour party. “every part” to be precise. This however is something she explicitly acknowledges she doesn’t believe “1 thing will change ”.
So far I have absolutely no problem with any of those statements, I believe they are probably true — which was why I wrote the article I did earlier. However her comments to the Guardian did not seem to convey this message. She has adopted the position that she knew this would happen months ago — again this fits with the statement she gave me, even if it is more targeted at an individual.
She does indeed mention Jeremy to me, but her position is clear — “it was their [sic] before he was”. Other than my needless adding of [sic] to highlight her poor usage of ‘their’ (not sure I’m in a great position to throw stones, I overuse hyphens like hell; love a semi-colon too) — it is clear that she believes this culture not only predates Jeremy, but the suggestion “and all I imagine” regarding sexism in political parties has an obvious conclusion. The fact that Labour have no female mayoral candidates this year could have been deduced quite easily regardless of the leader. A serious paradigm shift in the culture of the Labour Party is required to fix the issues women face. This is the message that must not get lost. It must not get lost because of quite how objectionable I now find Ms. Phillips, which is largely why I needed to write this article. It must not be something we dismiss as a smear on the leader, when it is a problem within the party. It must not get lost because it does not just apply to women, it applies to every minority group in the Labour party. I will again quote the report into racism by Ms. Chakrabarti:
“I am sorry to report that “a welcoming environment” has not been the overwhelming experience of many BAME members, including those from Afro-Caribbean, Muslim and Sikh communities in particular. I heard too many stories (from across the country) of members who felt that they were “good enough to deliver votes and leaflets” but not for staff or leadership positions within the Party or to be candidates for public office save (and often not even then) where their own ethnic community provides the majority of the electorate. This kind of testimony was far too common and consistent to be a complete misunderstanding and I do not want to see members of any communities leaving the Party to seek engagement and representation elsewhere.”
I decided to show solidarity with Ms. Phillips because I knew that this had already become a throwaway paragraph in what will always be remembered as the ‘report into anti-semitism’. Anti-semitism had become the line of attack and you’ll be damned if any of the groups mentioned will get any press time. Incidentally my own MP, champion of the downtrodden and hero to the BAME community, Chuka Umunna seemed to take great delight in using it. He told Ken Livingstone that all he is “going to be remembered for is becoming a pin-up for the kind of prejudice that our party was built to fight against”.
You’ll have to forgive me, I am very used to hearing Ken make comments that get him in trouble — but I am still yet to see him say anything I believe could offend anyone. He may be wrong on certain matters of historical facts, but he has never expressed hatred or held anyone down. He has always been a champion of racial equality and as Chuka himself references in the same diatribe “I think you campaigned for me”. The only response I can give to this is “I’m sorry, Ken. Truly sorry. I am sorry that Chuka has betrayed everything our party was built to stand for — and I’m sorry he’s done this to you”.
Did Chuka have much to say on BAME issues? Nope, but I guarantee he’ll have a robust defence ready for why he didn’t.
The purpose of this piece was to highlight the position that Ms. Phillips expressed to me, which seems to be a narrative that is true across society. That does not mean it requires less attention, it does however change the nature of the problem and how we can address it. I feel I have heard her and understood her concerns. I feel that I have now given the backdrop for the last article I wrote. I feel I have given the context for this article — and once again I feel a deep sense of betrayal by certain politicians masquerading as the parliamentary representatives of Labour members.
I feel the conclusion of this piece is fairly obvious; the party is in need of serious structural and cultural overhaul — once Jeremy Corbyn is reelected Leader of The Labour Party, Her Majesty’s Opposition. (No, I’m not a monarchist, but I wish to sound triumphant)
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(@UnrelentingEgo)
To anyone who has read both articles I’ve written today — you are a trooper. The last one was hard to write, but I needed to write this one or I would’ve exploded with rage. If anyone would like to chop segments out to weaponise against false claims of sexism, please do. Do not however take away from this that Jess Phillips never had a point. She did — between the time I spoke to her last night and the time her Guardian article was published today. I feel this is adequately acknowledged by my last article.
