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Jess Phillips set to quit Labour leadership race Jess Phillips quits Labour leadership race
(about 1 hour later)
Birmingham Yardley MP due to meet supporters before making formal announcement Birmingham Yardley MP says she is not the person to unite party after election defeat
Jess Phillips is expected to quit the Labour leadership race, just two weeks into the election campaign. Jess Phillips has pulled out of the Labour leadership contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn, saying she is not the person to unite the party.
The MP for Birmingham Yardley is due to meet with the MPs on her campaign team in Westminster on Tuesday afternoon before formally announcing to supporters she is not going to continue in the contest. Her decision, two weeks into the campaign, came as she failed to secure any union or affiliate backing, although she secured 23 nominations from MPs to put her into the latest phase of the contest.
She described a public hustings on Saturday as “awful” and how she was battling against perceptions of someone who looks prime ministerial. Earlier in the day she pulled out of a hustings held by the GMB union. Earlier on Tuesday, Phillips did not attend a hustings organised by the GMB union, leading to speculation her campaign was faltering.
Phillips has also failed to secure union and affiliate support in the contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn. In a message to supporters, the MP for Birmingham Yardley said: “The Labour party will need to select a candidate who can unite all parts of our movement, the union movement, members and elected representatives. And I have to also be honest with myself, as I said I always would be throughout this campaign.
The Labour leadership candidates were all invited to attend a hustings held by the GMB in a bid to gain their support. The other four candidates - Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Emily Thornberry and Lisa Nandy – all attended. “At this time, that person is not me. In order to win the country, we are going to have to find a candidate, in this race, who can do all of that, and then take that message out to the country.”
Aides said her absence from the GMB event was due to an unavoidable appointment elsewhere, but she acknowledged on Monday it would be a “bold roll of the dice” for Labour members to elect her as leader. She thanked her supporters and said the tens of thousands of people who had signed up to vote in the election should get a say in the race.
Phillips described how the first hustings she took part in on Saturday in Liverpool were “awful” and she would abandon attempts to appear statesmanlike because she felt she had not been “real”. She said: “I want to say to those people: this is not the end. It’s the beginning.”
A source told the Guardian that when she spoke at a campaign event at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London on Monday night, they sensed there were problems with the campaign. Her rival Keir Starmer is expected to pick up a share of party members’ votes that would have gone to Phillips had she ended up on the final ballot paper.
She did not say who she would back in the leadership race.
A source said that when she spoke at a campaign event at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London on Monday night, they sensed there were problems with the campaign.
“It felt like she was giving her own elegy. It was the sort of speech that Liz Kendall was giving in month three of the last leadership campaign but it’s week three,” he said.“It felt like she was giving her own elegy. It was the sort of speech that Liz Kendall was giving in month three of the last leadership campaign but it’s week three,” he said.
“I did wonder if something was up. She was saying the important thing was to go through it, so that people like me and people who sound like me can go for leader.”“I did wonder if something was up. She was saying the important thing was to go through it, so that people like me and people who sound like me can go for leader.”
Phillips scraped over the line to get the nominations needed to get to the second phase of the leadership debate with the backing of 23 MPs, including herself. She has been described as being on the right of the party by opponents.Phillips scraped over the line to get the nominations needed to get to the second phase of the leadership debate with the backing of 23 MPs, including herself. She has been described as being on the right of the party by opponents.
Among those who backed her were Wes Streeting, who is running her campaign, Liz Kendall, Margaret Hodge, Neil Coyle and Chris Bryant. Early polling had put her in third place behind Starmer and Long-Bailey. Among those who backed her were Wes Streeting, who was running her campaign, Liz Kendall, Margaret Hodge, Neil Coyle and Chris Bryant. Early polling had put her in third place behind Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey.