Why We Need to Actually Listen to MPs Like Jess Phillips
How have we ended up here? I ask that as a genuine question because I’m perplexed. If you are unsure where ‘here’ is, allow me to elucidate:
We have entered a leadership contest, yet before even the first debate most members knew who they would vote for. After one debate we will have had more court rulings than we will opportunities to hear the candidates voice their positions. We are fighting each other as if we were not all Labour members and telling the ‘Blairites’ we want rid of them. As I opened my last article, there can be no side claiming to be ‘moderate’ in this discourse. The strangest thing of all is that we have collectively — both members, and MPs — allowed the battle lines to be drawn too early and in the wrong positions. We are all guilty of what we have been rallying against; allowing the media to divide us.
Corbyn supporters have been branded ‘entryist Trots’, but that is not something I see stated across the board. I have not seen 172 statements branding us that. Instead the same media which we decry takes quotes that suit the stories they wish to run; then frame them in that regard. The broad church that is Labour now appears to be an unstable and volatile coalition of ‘Treacherous, Blairite Scum’ and ‘Revolutionary, Entryist Trots’. It is a completely false dichotomy that we are all duty bound to reject, because I believe we will form the next government — and I don’t believe that requires mandatory reselection in every constituency.
I was inspired to write this piece, from this angle by a conversation I had with Jess Phillips MP over Twitter. Her name is not the most popular amongst Corbyn supporters, she herself is backing Owen — but she is my comrade, even if not yours. Yesterday she tweeted about the lack of female representation in Labour’s mayoral candidates. Yes, she did mention Jeremy in the tweet and yes, she did claim he had not done enough. However if you read her tweet and could only perceive it as a weapon used to beat Jeremy — you are not helping the party, or listening. You are actively hurting the idea that there are legitimate principles Corbyn’s supporters believe in.
I am a Socialist, for me that entails that I am also a feminist, advocate for LGBTQI rights and generally on the side of the oppressed. I believe Jeremy Corbyn shares a great deal of that ideology, but that does not mean he is incapable of making a mistake. Having engaged with Jess as not just a fellow Labour member, but a human being — it became very clear to me she had a genuine grievance which we need to address. I have absolutely no reason to doubt her when she says she tried to arrange a meeting with Jeremy about an all female shortlist, the tweet did not say that Jeremy had actively hindered her — it said he could have done more. Even as a Corbyn supporter, I can acknowledge that he probably should have done more. We should have a female mayoral candidate in at least one major city and it is something that we must address as a party. If anybody reading at this stage believes all female lists are not a solution, then we disagree in this area. I’m not on a different side, I just have different beliefs about how we achieve correct representation.
Having spoken to Ms. Phillips personally I saw something I have become all too accustomed to; somebody in pain and angry because a party that is meant to stand up for the oppressed and show solidarity with the marginalised had done little if anything to help her cause. I wrote a few days ago about how strange it felt not being able to get any Labour official, MP or even the Labour press account to express a position on the Black Lives Matter UK protests and the movement overall. I was not looking for a full throated backing of the action (although that would’ve been appreciated), merely an acknowledgement of it. It hurt me that the only party who were wading through the abuse being hurled at protestors were the Green Party, whose Twitter account contained stat after stat explaining why BLMUK was important. It wasn’t popular, virtually every comment on their posts was negative and decrying the idea that the movement had any legitimacy or belonged in this country — but it was principled.
The Labour Party has the same problem that Britain faces; everybody worries far too much about whether they are racist or sexist — and once they’ve decided they are not, none of their actions can be. What follows is usually a group of people acting as apologists for the accused, and let me be clear once again — that is part of the problem. There may indeed be completely logical and valid reasons why the candidates in question were chosen, but that does not demonstrate a commitment to change. It demonstrates ignorance as to what solidarity is and a worrying predisposition to dismiss issues which do not directly affect you, so long as you have a good argument. We have collectively stopped listening to each other in a way that allows us to engage on real problems.
The level of hostility amongst party members is not something we created, but it is not something we as a party are doing enough to address. The party is not just the membership, nor is it just our MPs — to fix this we need to stand together on matters of principle. We need to recognise that every single one of us is an individual with principles, emotions and beliefs about the direction the party should be heading and how we get there. We need to recognise that taking events out of their context is the exact sort of smear we decry when levelled at Jeremy or any other MP backing Corbyn.
There are certain political issues that there will never be a ‘right time’ for, so I would like to end with a few statements that many of my fellow Corbyn supporters will dislike or disagree with — but for me that is irrelevant. My politics are bound to no single individual or arbitrary collective which I never assented to being part of.
I do not think that Jess Phillips ever ‘threatened’ Jeremy. I think she gave an interview in which there is a quote which makes explicitly clear she wanted to be more involved in party operations than she was. I also think the cherrypicked words from the quote are those of a woman saying that she has no interest in plotting behind his back, but rather would happily confront him face to face. I would also like people to note that this statement was made before the tragic loss of Jo Cox, and I do not think she would have chosen the same words today.
I do not think that Angela Eagle owes anybody an apology because a brick was thrown through her office block window. I think that she launched a leadership challenge — which even if I did not back — will have resulted in her being bombarded with abuse online. I do not think the fact that it was thrown through a stairwell and not the exact office in which her staff work dismisses any genuine concern she may have had for her safety. I also think it is asking a lot for somebody who is being abused to turn the other cheek whilst being made to feel unwelcome in their own party.
I do not think John McDonnell referred to all his colleagues as ‘fucking useless’, I believe the statement was qualified with ‘as plotters’ which should immediately indicate two things: If you were not plotting, the statement does not apply to you. If you were plotting, it clearly did not go to plan; or it did and you should be secretly laughing that he thinks it was a failure.
If anybody feels the people I have mentioned have behaved poorly in other ways, this is not a defence of those actions — merely those I directly address. This piece is not about a leadership election. This piece is about unity. This piece is about acknowledging each other’s humanity. This piece is about fixing the problems within our party regardless of the leader. This piece is about solidarity.
I will still vote for Jeremy, but I stand shoulder to shoulder with Jess Phillips. I stand with Angela Eagle, I stand with John McDonnell and I stand with Owen Smith. I stand with Lisa Nandy and I stand with Dianne Abbott. I stand with David Lammy and I stand with Emily Thornberry. I stand for principles and ideals that none of the former fully represent or encapsulate — but I stand in solidarity with any MP whom I believe to be sincere in wanting a better future under Labour. There are MPs whom I cannot say this of for my own reasons, but none of them feature on that list.
Solidarity has been sincerely lacking in our party as of late for understandable reasons, but for me solidarity does not come with conditions attached. If it disappears when things get difficult — it was never there.
So regardless of who your preferred candidate is, we need to address the completely valid issue Jess Phillips raised regarding women’s representation — not treat it as a political weapon, because when I engaged with her, I could see it meant much more than that to her; and it does to me too.
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(@UnrelentingEgo)
Obviously a slightly different tone to what I’ve written previously, this is bigger than a leadership race. I shall be back to my usual pro-Corbyn stance in the next couple of days, but for now I’d prefer to attempt to reconnect with comrades who have been lost in this pettiness.
