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Yvette Cooper: ‘You can be strong without being extreme’ Yvette Cooper: ‘It's not enough to be angry - you have to be able to change things’
(about 14 hours later)
Pinned to a corkboard in Yvette Cooper’s researchers’ office is an A4 black-and-white photocopy of a young Tony Blair looking imperiously into the camera. Apparently it was stuck up there ages ago for a joke, the point of which has been lost in the mists of time. Yet the almost ghostly quality of the image, and its presence in Cooper’s small suite of offices, feels somehow significant – and serves as a reminder of how things have changed in recent weeks.Pinned to a corkboard in Yvette Cooper’s researchers’ office is an A4 black-and-white photocopy of a young Tony Blair looking imperiously into the camera. Apparently it was stuck up there ages ago for a joke, the point of which has been lost in the mists of time. Yet the almost ghostly quality of the image, and its presence in Cooper’s small suite of offices, feels somehow significant – and serves as a reminder of how things have changed in recent weeks.
It was supposed to have been Cooper’s reputation as a follower of Gordon Brown (she is, of course, the wife of Brown’s closest ally, Ed Balls) that would prove the biggest hindrance to her leadership ambitions. When former Labour big-hitters such as uber-Blairites Alan Milburn and John Reid came out in support of the largely unknown shadow care minister Liz Kendall at the beginning of the leadership contest, Cooper accused them of being stuck in a time warp, fighting the Blair-Brown battles of 2004-05. And when, early in the contest, the sulphuric whiff of behind-the-scenes briefing against other candidates threatened to remind Labour members of the antics of Brown’s demon spinner Damian “Mad Dog” McBride, Cooper was swift to insist that her team would operate only on the record from then on.It was supposed to have been Cooper’s reputation as a follower of Gordon Brown (she is, of course, the wife of Brown’s closest ally, Ed Balls) that would prove the biggest hindrance to her leadership ambitions. When former Labour big-hitters such as uber-Blairites Alan Milburn and John Reid came out in support of the largely unknown shadow care minister Liz Kendall at the beginning of the leadership contest, Cooper accused them of being stuck in a time warp, fighting the Blair-Brown battles of 2004-05. And when, early in the contest, the sulphuric whiff of behind-the-scenes briefing against other candidates threatened to remind Labour members of the antics of Brown’s demon spinner Damian “Mad Dog” McBride, Cooper was swift to insist that her team would operate only on the record from then on.
A wariness about old Brownite associations is understandable. But today, gripping a hot cup of tea for warmth in her chilly room in the Palace of Westminster and freshly returned from a family camping holiday in America, she concedes: “I have talked to Gordon Brown, yep. I have talked to a lot of people.”A wariness about old Brownite associations is understandable. But today, gripping a hot cup of tea for warmth in her chilly room in the Palace of Westminster and freshly returned from a family camping holiday in America, she concedes: “I have talked to Gordon Brown, yep. I have talked to a lot of people.”
Is he supporting you for the leadership? “I don’t want to speak for him,” she laughs nervously.Is he supporting you for the leadership? “I don’t want to speak for him,” she laughs nervously.
But it isn’t her ongoing relationship with Brown that is now the biggest problem for Cooper. It isn’t even the candidate who started this contest as the frontrunner, Andy Burnham, or the other woman in the race, Kendall, who is languishing last in the polls. The wholly unexpected obstacle to Cooper’s ambition to be Labour’s first female leader is the hard-left Jeremy “Jez We Can” Corbyn.But it isn’t her ongoing relationship with Brown that is now the biggest problem for Cooper. It isn’t even the candidate who started this contest as the frontrunner, Andy Burnham, or the other woman in the race, Kendall, who is languishing last in the polls. The wholly unexpected obstacle to Cooper’s ambition to be Labour’s first female leader is the hard-left Jeremy “Jez We Can” Corbyn.
Having done a decent job at banishing those initial Brown-shaped demons, Cooper won’t admit to what must be intense frustration at this remarkable turn of events. But she admits that her office has recently made representations to ensure that the promised checks on the influx of new members, who appear to have changed the game – indeed, the party – are indeed robust. Labour membership was 200,000 at the election. Since then an additional 190,000 people have, through various means, added themselves to the Labour leadership electorate. “It is really important that the party makes sure these checks are happening and can provide reassurance to people who have been party members for a very long time that those checks are taking place,” Cooper says.Having done a decent job at banishing those initial Brown-shaped demons, Cooper won’t admit to what must be intense frustration at this remarkable turn of events. But she admits that her office has recently made representations to ensure that the promised checks on the influx of new members, who appear to have changed the game – indeed, the party – are indeed robust. Labour membership was 200,000 at the election. Since then an additional 190,000 people have, through various means, added themselves to the Labour leadership electorate. “It is really important that the party makes sure these checks are happening and can provide reassurance to people who have been party members for a very long time that those checks are taking place,” Cooper says.
Asked if she can understand what has triggered the unlikely conversion of the 100-1 outsider into the favourite to be anointed on the 12 September, Cooper is slow to answer, but when she does her response is laced with ominous warnings of what it could mean. “I think … ” She pauses, looking up to ceiling. “I think there is, erm, a sort of sense of frustration and kind of anger in the party at the idea of five more years of the Tories.Asked if she can understand what has triggered the unlikely conversion of the 100-1 outsider into the favourite to be anointed on the 12 September, Cooper is slow to answer, but when she does her response is laced with ominous warnings of what it could mean. “I think … ” She pauses, looking up to ceiling. “I think there is, erm, a sort of sense of frustration and kind of anger in the party at the idea of five more years of the Tories.
“As a result, people are casting around for a way to express that frustration, anger. People have been told too often that they have to choose effectively between their heads and their hearts, and that there is a choice to be made, that if you want Labour to be re-elected we somehow have to ditch our principles, perhaps on public services, the welfare bill, whatever it might be.“As a result, people are casting around for a way to express that frustration, anger. People have been told too often that they have to choose effectively between their heads and their hearts, and that there is a choice to be made, that if you want Labour to be re-elected we somehow have to ditch our principles, perhaps on public services, the welfare bill, whatever it might be.
“Or, alternatively, that you can stick by your principles and forget any prospect of being elected. I think a lot of people forced to choose between their heads and their hearts would go with their hearts because they feel passionately about politics and ideas, and it is why they came into politics in the first place. But if you make that choice, and it creates that false choice, in the end you are actually breaking the hearts of all those people who depend on a Labour government in the first place.”“Or, alternatively, that you can stick by your principles and forget any prospect of being elected. I think a lot of people forced to choose between their heads and their hearts would go with their hearts because they feel passionately about politics and ideas, and it is why they came into politics in the first place. But if you make that choice, and it creates that false choice, in the end you are actually breaking the hearts of all those people who depend on a Labour government in the first place.”
Does she agree with the former home secretary Alan Johnson, who has endorsed her campaign, that Labour has been gripped by “madness”?Does she agree with the former home secretary Alan Johnson, who has endorsed her campaign, that Labour has been gripped by “madness”?
“It would be madness to write off the next election and to say we want the Tories to win.” So Corbyn can’t win a general election? “It’s very hard if you’re not credible on things like the economy, being prepared to talk about difficult issues like immigration, being prepared to set out how you create jobs for the future and getting the deficit down without swallowing the Tory myth about the economy and Labour’s past history and Labour’s record.”“It would be madness to write off the next election and to say we want the Tories to win.” So Corbyn can’t win a general election? “It’s very hard if you’re not credible on things like the economy, being prepared to talk about difficult issues like immigration, being prepared to set out how you create jobs for the future and getting the deficit down without swallowing the Tory myth about the economy and Labour’s past history and Labour’s record.”
She adds: “I remember I went on loads and loads of protest marches in the 1980s and it didn’t change anything. You know when they removed union rights from GCHQ? My dad was the trade union official leading the campaign to keep those rights. Great long campaign over a very long period of time, but it wasn’t until Labour was elected that Robin Cook was able to restore trade union membership to GCHQ.She adds: “I remember I went on loads and loads of protest marches in the 1980s and it didn’t change anything. You know when they removed union rights from GCHQ? My dad was the trade union official leading the campaign to keep those rights. Great long campaign over a very long period of time, but it wasn’t until Labour was elected that Robin Cook was able to restore trade union membership to GCHQ.
“It is not enough to be angry at the world – you have to change the world. That is what we are about in the Labour party.”“It is not enough to be angry at the world – you have to change the world. That is what we are about in the Labour party.”
Cooper, a former chief secretary to the Treasury and secretary of state for work and pensions, agrees with Blair that some of the policies being proposed by Corbyn would be “very destructive”. “For example, the quantitative easing for infrastructure will actually simply be effectively an increase in borrowing, [that] would undermine the Bank of England’s independence,” she says.Cooper, a former chief secretary to the Treasury and secretary of state for work and pensions, agrees with Blair that some of the policies being proposed by Corbyn would be “very destructive”. “For example, the quantitative easing for infrastructure will actually simply be effectively an increase in borrowing, [that] would undermine the Bank of England’s independence,” she says.
“It would be bad for the economy and bad for long-term jobs and inflation. So there are policies there that are the wrong approach. But there are a lot of the things that Jeremy Corbyn has said on his campaign for women that are my policies which I’ve been pursuing for years so, great, I’m glad he supports them.”“It would be bad for the economy and bad for long-term jobs and inflation. So there are policies there that are the wrong approach. But there are a lot of the things that Jeremy Corbyn has said on his campaign for women that are my policies which I’ve been pursuing for years so, great, I’m glad he supports them.”
The criticism of Cooper’s campaign so far is that for all that this might be true and that Labour members need to be excited by their leader, she has played it safe, sought anonymity, seeking to offend few but pinch victory as the best prospect of a future female Labour prime minister. Perhaps, given that it is an alternative vote poll, she has had her eye on the second preferences of supporters of other candidates.The criticism of Cooper’s campaign so far is that for all that this might be true and that Labour members need to be excited by their leader, she has played it safe, sought anonymity, seeking to offend few but pinch victory as the best prospect of a future female Labour prime minister. Perhaps, given that it is an alternative vote poll, she has had her eye on the second preferences of supporters of other candidates.
In a recent interview with the BBC’s John Humphrys, Cooper was accused of being “tepid”. She admits that one of the difficulties she has is that she can’t promise to implement exciting changes tomorrow because “there isn’t a prospect of an immediate election”. However, today she announces her plan to force all publicly funded social care services to pay the living wage, to be funded by closing tax loopholes used by corporate giants and the hedge fund industry.In a recent interview with the BBC’s John Humphrys, Cooper was accused of being “tepid”. She admits that one of the difficulties she has is that she can’t promise to implement exciting changes tomorrow because “there isn’t a prospect of an immediate election”. However, today she announces her plan to force all publicly funded social care services to pay the living wage, to be funded by closing tax loopholes used by corporate giants and the hedge fund industry.
But Cooper won’t be shifting to the right or left, even to create some excitement, it would appear. “Whether it is John Humphrys or anyone else, what some people want is extremes. I think you can be very strong in what you believe in without being at an extreme. There is a radical centre to the Labour party.But Cooper won’t be shifting to the right or left, even to create some excitement, it would appear. “Whether it is John Humphrys or anyone else, what some people want is extremes. I think you can be very strong in what you believe in without being at an extreme. There is a radical centre to the Labour party.
“I remember having a conversation with [the former Labour leader] John Smith in a taxi about 25 years ago and he was saying he had been asked by somebody, ‘What is the big idea?’ He was shadow chancellor at the time.“I remember having a conversation with [the former Labour leader] John Smith in a taxi about 25 years ago and he was saying he had been asked by somebody, ‘What is the big idea?’ He was shadow chancellor at the time.
“He said that, in the end, ‘Isn’t it a really big idea to lift pensioners out of poverty? To say no children should live in poverty?’ I remember him saying that. Why is that not a big idea? Why do you have to be at the extremes of the party? Actually you don’t.”“He said that, in the end, ‘Isn’t it a really big idea to lift pensioners out of poverty? To say no children should live in poverty?’ I remember him saying that. Why is that not a big idea? Why do you have to be at the extremes of the party? Actually you don’t.”
COOPER’S CAREERCOOPER’S CAREER
Born in Inverness, 20 March 1969.Born in Inverness, 20 March 1969.
Married to former shadow chancellor Ed Balls; two daughters and one son.Married to former shadow chancellor Ed Balls; two daughters and one son.
Educated at a comprehensive school in Holybourne and Alton College, both in Alton, Hampshire. Read PPE at Balliol College, Oxford, taking a first class degree. Won a Kennedy Scholarship in 1991 to study at Harvard University. Completed her postgraduate studies with an MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics.Educated at a comprehensive school in Holybourne and Alton College, both in Alton, Hampshire. Read PPE at Balliol College, Oxford, taking a first class degree. Won a Kennedy Scholarship in 1991 to study at Harvard University. Completed her postgraduate studies with an MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics.
Career Researcher for Labour leader John Smith in the early 1990s; adviser to Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign 1992; leader writer for the Independent 1995-97; undersecretary of state for public health 1999-2002; parliamentary secretary, lord chancellor’s department, 2002-03; housing minister 2007; chief secretary to the Treasury 2008-09; secretary of state for work and pensions 2009-10. MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. Currently shadow home secretary.Career Researcher for Labour leader John Smith in the early 1990s; adviser to Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign 1992; leader writer for the Independent 1995-97; undersecretary of state for public health 1999-2002; parliamentary secretary, lord chancellor’s department, 2002-03; housing minister 2007; chief secretary to the Treasury 2008-09; secretary of state for work and pensions 2009-10. MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. Currently shadow home secretary.