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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Labour leader: Row after MP backs 'working mum' Cooper | Labour leader: Row after MP backs 'working mum' Cooper |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Helen Goodman's decision to back Yvette Cooper as the next Labour leader because she is a "working mum" has been criticised by a rival's campaign chief. | Helen Goodman's decision to back Yvette Cooper as the next Labour leader because she is a "working mum" has been criticised by a rival's campaign chief. |
| Toby Perkins, who is leading Liz Kendall's leadership campaign, said it suggested a "paucity of intellectual argument" on behalf of Ms Goodman. | Toby Perkins, who is leading Liz Kendall's leadership campaign, said it suggested a "paucity of intellectual argument" on behalf of Ms Goodman. |
| Labour needed a serious debate about its future direction, he said. | Labour needed a serious debate about its future direction, he said. |
| Ms Cooper, Ms Kendall, Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham are all vying to become Ed Miliband's successor. | Ms Cooper, Ms Kendall, Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham are all vying to become Ed Miliband's successor. |
| The winner of the contest will be announced on 12 September, ahead of the party's autumn conference. | The winner of the contest will be announced on 12 September, ahead of the party's autumn conference. |
| 'Intellectually bankrupt' | 'Intellectually bankrupt' |
| In an article for the Huffington Post, Ms Goodman, shadow media minister and Bishop Auckland MP, set out why she would be supporting Yvette Cooper's candidacy. | |
| She said that being a parent to two children was "much more important" than her political career. | She said that being a parent to two children was "much more important" than her political career. |
| "That's why I'm backing Yvette Cooper to be the next leader of the Labour Party. As a working mum, she understands the pressures on modern family life," she wrote. | |
| She added: "We need a leader who knows what challenges ordinary people face day to day, and who is committed to helping them." | |
| Ms Cooper has three children with former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Ball, who lost his seat at the 2015 general election. | |
| Asked about Ms Goodman's comments Mr Perkins told BBC2's Daily Politics programme he was "disappointed" by the article. | |
| "The idea that you say 'because one of the candidates is a mother they are the one that you should back' suggests a paucity of intellectual argument that the Labour Party really should have moved beyond," he said. | "The idea that you say 'because one of the candidates is a mother they are the one that you should back' suggests a paucity of intellectual argument that the Labour Party really should have moved beyond," he said. |
| Mr Perkins said Labour suffered its worst electoral performance since 1983 at the general election. | Mr Perkins said Labour suffered its worst electoral performance since 1983 at the general election. |
| The idea that the party could "go back to the electorate with the same programme but get a different outcome is intellectually bankrupt". | The idea that the party could "go back to the electorate with the same programme but get a different outcome is intellectually bankrupt". |
| Criticism of Ms Goodman's article also came from Labour MP John Woodcock, who tweeted: "Looking forward to day someone tells a man they are voting for him because he has a kid and the other guy doesn't. Will be equally sad then too." | |
| He asked whether Ms Cooper's leadership team helped draft the article, and suggested they would "know how it would be interpreted". | |
| The article was promoted by Ms Cooper's leadership campaign Twitter account. |