Tessa Jowell strives to rise above Labour strife in race to be London mayor

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/30/tessa-jowell-labour-strife-london-mayor

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Dame Tessa Jowell is beaming and resplendent in a blaze of colour in her north London home. She has just heard that she is to be elevated to the House of Lords and is about to head off to the south of France for a three-day break. For most former cabinet ministers a peerage would be the icing on the career cake and the moment to ease back a little. But not for her. “I have had no break since the general election. I am busier than ever.” Now 67, and no longer an MP, the former Olympics minister says she is powered by “green juice”, a concoction of celery, kale, spinach and cucumber that she knocks back every morning for breakfast.

In just under a fortnight, on Friday, 11 September, Jowell, a hyperactive Blairite from the right of her party, could well be catapulted to the next leg of her career path if she is chosen as Labour’s candidate for mayor of London at the May 2016 election. She is, albeit narrowly, the bookies’ favourite and most polls have put her out in front.

The next day, in what promises to be an extraordinary 48-hour demonstration of her party’s profound identity crisis, Jeremy Corbyn, her political polar opposite in Labour ranks, looks highly likely to be announced as the new Labour leader and candidate for No 10.

So how on earth would that combination work? Could Jowell get on with leader – or prime minister – Corbyn? Would she even try? “I don’t know Jeremy Corbyn. I know London very well,” she replies, adding that, while she has said “hello” to him on occasions, she can’t recall any conversations.

But does she think he can win a general election? “Oh, God, I have no idea,” comes the dismissive response, with a look of incomprehension. Does that mean she fears he would be an electoral liability? “I am not making any judgment about that,” she says, in a way that suggests she thinks he almost certainly will be. “I am completely focused on London and winning London. I think there are plenty of voices making their judgments about that.”

At every turn Jowell bats away questions about the MP for Islington North’s leadership credentials and suitability as a potential PM as quickly as she can, while making it abundantly clear that if she wins she will not answer to the new party leader, whoever he or she turns out to be.

“This is the 13th big campaign I have fought. There is an extreme liberation in doing what we know to be right for London, and the crisis facing London, without having to refer it to the leader’s office,” she says.

Jowell understands full well that in any mayoral race success depends on winning votes from the other side. “To be mayor of London you have to be beyond tribalism to a certain extent. You have to remember that Boris [Johnson] was elected on Labour votes and Ken [Livingstone] was elected on Tory votes.” But in this contest, for Jowell it could be more crucial than ever to be seen to be above the political fray.

Her approach is to insulate herself from a national party that most figures on her wing of the Labour tribe believe will descend into chaos under Corbyn. The last thing she would want in that scenario is to have her mayoral campaign tainted by association with a party in meltdown.

Her pitch is that she will be a “One-London mayor”, dedicated to ending its economic and social divisions, solving its housing crisis by building on public land and hitting foreign buyers with taxes if they leave properties vacant. She talks at length about her passion for maximising the life chances of every young person in the capital from the moment they are born through to young adulthood and beyond. She wants to revive interest in politics through community acvitism, through a rebirth of Sure Start children’s centres and by introducing a scheme under which 100,000 Londoners would become mentors to those who have not had easy starts in life. “I will be a one-London mayor. London’s success rests critically on bringing the city together. My vision is for a very well-defined citizenship of the city.”

Jowell is not a shoo-in for the mayoral candidacy by any means. In recent weeks the odds have shortened for Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice minister and shadow minister for London, whose supporters believe he is capturing the backing of most of those Londoners who have joined the party during the leadership contest and who will vote for Corbyn. In London the number eligible to have a say has soared from around 40,000 to close to 125,000 as a result of reforms that have allowed people to become “registered” members for £3 and union members to become affiliates for nothing.

David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, doubts whether Jowell can win on first-preference votes and believes he, too, could do well by mopping up second preferences from other candidates, including another leftwinger, Diane Abbott. Gareth Thomas and the former journalist Christian Wolmar are thought to be further behind.

Jowell dismisses talk of a surge for Khan and says her support remains impressive and firm. “I am very strong with our members and in a very good place with affiliates and registered supporters. I don’t see any evidence of a change.”

Given the state of her party and its record in elections since 2005, Jowell says it will be “a catastrophe” for Labour if it loses to the Tories in the mayoral election in London, where it is traditionally strong. With the party also likely to suffer another beating in Scottish elections next year at the hands of the SNP, defeat would be yet another body blow to a party on its knees.

“It is absolutely essential that we win London. Over the last 10 years Labour has lost two general elections, two European elections, two mayoral elections, two Scottish elections. The first chance realistically to win something big is 2020 with the general election. That is where winning in London is absolutely crucial. I know that I am the person who can win and I know lots of Tories who will vote for me rather than Zac Goldsmith [the likely Tory candidate].” She cites polling suggesting that she would beat Goldsmith while Khan would struggle.

Jowell believes the combination of a seat in the Lords and a mandate from Londoners as mayor would give her the leverage to introduce a bill that would boost the mayor’s powers, allowing her to introduce a minimum wage for London and new authority to tackle the capital’s housing crisis. Housing is a top priority. “The current shortage of supply means people like teachers, nurses, paramedics, policemen and women cannot afford to live in the city.”

She believes her record and experience, including delivering the 2012 Olympics, will mean many Tories – as well as Labour and Lib Dem supporters – will see her not as Labour, but as Tessa: a mayor necessarily set apart from, and independent of, her own divided party – while at the same time being arguably the most powerful woman it has ever produced.