A ‘car crash’ interview shows exactly why Jess Phillips is unfit to be Labour leader
On 5 January, Jess Phillips appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show to discuss her candidacy for the Labour leadership position. And despite admitting that Brexit was one of the things that contributed to Labour’s loss, she’s still apparently committed to arguing for re-entry to the EU:
“If our country is safer, if it is more economically viable to be in the EU, then I will fight for that regardless of how difficult that argument is to make”
Labour leadership candidate Jess Phillips on her EU policy#Marr https://t.co/oqs9t2X72N pic.twitter.com/msRj2BlVRQ
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 5, 2020
Read on...
Brexit decision
Not only did most UK voters choose to leave the EU in June 2016, but the general election on 12 December 2019 was dominated by Brexit. And it was a landslide victory for a clearly pro-Brexit party. In short, it’s important to a significant number of British people. So it’s unclear why someone who wants to be Labour Party leader and prime minister would apparently argue to re-join the EU.
Charismatic, really?
While introducing the interview, Marr labelled Phillips as “one of the most charismatic MPs in parliament”. But this didn’t cut any ice with people online. One person, for example, thought Phillips’s ‘re-join’ position would “infuriate” people further:
Poor leadership PR qualities from Jess after an election that’s less than a month old that gave the Conservatives a majority of 80? based on Johnson’s ‘get brexit done’; leave voters won’t trust Jess’s labour she will infuriate them further.https://t.co/7ieGk7mDtF
— Lisette Granados (@LisetteinDevon) January 6, 2020
And Labour councillor Seema Chandwani was much more to the point:
This was a car-crash!! 😩 #Marr pic.twitter.com/5FvQFIvkzu
— Seema Chandwani™️ (@SeemaChandwani) January 5, 2020
So too was fellow councillor John Edwards:
Catastrophe on day one: Naive, inexperienced and arrogant.
If we want to go to hell in a handcart here’s the driver.https://t.co/wkbv6J64CJ— Cllr John Edwards (@JohnEdwards33) January 5, 2020
Time to get real
If Labour is to build a fairer society for the UK, then all leaders need to show they’re listening to its people. So while it’s valid for any candidate to personally believe the best place for the UK is within the EU, they mustn’t let that belief override the wishes of the British people.
Phillips talked about ‘listening’ to the British people. Yet her Brexit position in this interview somewhat belies this. Arguing for Remain when British people chose Leave and punished Labour for not honouring the referendum result in the last election shows a distinct lack of leadership and an unsuitability for public office.
Featured image via Twitter screengrab
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Whilst I agree it’s naive to stand for the leadership on a rejoin mandate and Jess Phillips won’t be getting my vote, it seems that she understand the nature of ‘Representative Demcracy better than Peadar O’Cearnaigh, most of the electorate, and many of her fellow MPs.
It has little if anything to do with the ‘will of the people’, which this piece appears to suggest.
In the unlikely event that Jess Phillips wins the leadership race, Labour will not be getting my vote. However, Brexit has not been the “will of the people” for sometime. This is why Brexiters were so opposed to a second referendum.
In the Election the Tories only got 43% of the vote, with Pro brexit parties only getting a total 45% of the vote. The other parties either supported remain, or a second referendum, which leaver interpreted as remain because of their certainty that remain would win a second referendum. This is partly because leave voters are dying of old age, but mainly because people realize they have been conned by rich people who want to keep their tax havens.
We have seen support for brexit drop from 52% to 45% in just 3 1/2 years, and as the Tories make a pigs arse of it, it will drop further, and the brexiters will not be forgiven!
With all the disgusting things that Jess Phillips stands for, and her betrayal of the Labour members as well as the leadership, if the only thing you can attack her on is her brexit position, you need your head looking at!