Inside Politics: Rebecca Long-Bailey lashes out at Westminster ‘gentlemen’s club’

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Friday 17 January 2020 08:50 GMT

Who are the Labour leadership contenders?

What gives you the hebbie jeebies? The BBC’s new reality show Don’t Scream sees contestants compete to stifle their shrieks as they’re guided through a series of psychological terrors. Sir Keir Starmer seems like a cool customer, but Labour rival Rebecca Long-Bailey will be hoping to bring him out in a cold sweat when she launches her leadership campaign at a big event in Manchester tonight. RLB’s mates in Momentum, backing her to become Corbyn’s successor, will now swing their scarily impressive online operation into action – hoping to turn Starmer’s dream of a smooth ride into a bumpy nightmare. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our political correspondent Benjamin Kentish on what to look out for today:

Rebecca Long-Bailey and Emily Thornberry will set out their visions for the Labour Party as they launch their rival bids to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader. The shadow business secretary will vow to “shake up” the way government works and put power into the hands of voters, as she kicks off her campaign with a speech in her home city of Manchester on Friday evening. And the shadow foreign secretary will launch her leadership bid in her home town of Guildford this afternoon, after she only narrowly secured the necessary support from MPs to stay in the race.

Daily briefing

LAST FACTION HERO: It’s been comradely enough until now, but the Labour leadership contest has suddenly turned a bit edgy. Rebecca Long-Bailey is promising to end “the gentlemen’s club” of politics as she launches her campaign. Any idea which particular gentlemen she might be referring to? A knight of the realm perhaps? Step forward Sir Keir Starmer, who told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg he wants to end “factionalism”. He also admitted he does have some Tory friends – which will do nothing to endear him to the Tory-hating, Kuenssberg-loathing faction of Corbynites backing Long-Bailey. Momentum got the result they asked for from a ballot of group members – RLB won 70 per cent of the leadership vote (in which no other candidate was on offer). But their favoured candidate ran into a bit of trouble when the anti-Corbyn website Red Roar revealed Long-Bailey had expressed a personal view supporting tougher abortion limits in the case of unborn children with disabilities. Jess Phillips jumped right on it with a tweet: “I always have and always will trust women to make the decisions about their bodies.”

BONG AND WINDING ROAD: Okay. You knew it was coming. An update on the Big Ben bongs for Brexit buffoonery. We’ll start with Tory MP Mark Francois, who turned bitterly on Boris Johnson after the PM’s official spokesman pointed out there could be “potential difficulties” in a public fundraising campaign for the £500,000 needed to ring that ruddy great bell. Poor Mark. He said the donations to a were “literally flooding in” (literally?) and fumed: “As the prime minister effectively initiated this campaign live on TV two days ago … he would be mad to back away from it.” But last night the House of Commons Commission ruled that money raised by Francois and his pals could not be accepted because of parliamentary rules on financial donations. A thoroughly exasperated Sir Lindsay Hoyle told The Telegraph a vote in the Commons would be needed to change those donation rules. A No 10 source told the paper: “I don’t think we ever thought it would be as complex as the Commons authorities have since set out.” What a first-class farce it has been.

MUSEUM PIECE: When it comes to Brexit, the United Kingdom has made an absolute exhibition of itself. Literally (as Francois would say). Brussels bureaucrats will mark our exit on 31 January by lowering the Union flag and making it an exhibit in the Museum of the European Union. In Scotland, MSP Alasdair Allan has been forced to give up his campaign for the EU flag to stay up at Holyrood. The Scottish parliament’s management group has decided the blue and yellow cloth will defo be coming down. Meanwhile, the EU’s trade boss has warned the UK that a full Brexit deal by the end of the year is “just not possible”. Phil Hogan, Ireland’s EU commissioner, said “gamesmanship and brinkmanship are not going to work”. Say it ain’t so Phil Hogan! Johnson will now have to wipe “gamesmanship and brinkmanship” off his trade deal strategy whiteboard.

AND THE WINNER IS: Nicky Morgan may be in the House of Lords, but she’s no museum piece. She’s still the culture secretary, so she has important stuff to say about culture, okay? The former Boris-basher turned ermine-clad loyalist has weighed in on the Oscars’ all-male list of nominees for best director. Baroness Morgan told The House magazine “it’s not enough [for those in charge] just to wring their hands”. She suggested Hollywood awards organisers had something to learn from Commons select committees in refusing to have all-male panels. “If we want more female director talent, they need to see existing female directors being rewarded,” the peer added. No word on whether she thinks Scorsese, Tarantino, Mendez, Joon-ho or Phillips will win the meaningless gold statue.

CITIZEN SMITHS: What the hell should we do about plastic? How do we get people flying less? Why aren’t there more electric cars on the roads? In a genuinely exciting development, a “citizens’ jury” made up of 110 members of the public will get to ponder the big questions on climate change and come up with some answers together. The innovative assembly was forged by MPs on six select committees and has been organised by the Involve charity responsible for citizens’ juries on tough issues in Ireland. Let’s hope they can get their act together faster than the government. The vice chair of the Committee on Climate Change has told Boris Johnson to stop mucking about. Baroness Brown urged the PM to bring forward a climate change budget to March, after ministers admitted they won’t actually decide on how to go about achieving “net zero” carbon emissions until the end of the year.

On the record

“If we only look at the 2019 election we’re missing the fact that we’ve lost four in a row.”

Keir Starmer rejects the idea Corbyn is to blame for Labour’s current position.

From the Twitterati

“Newsflash: in the battle of ideas, Corbyn WON the 2019 general election.”

The pro-Corbyn site The Canary tweets a very strange comment piece about an apparent Labour victory...

“Corbyn WON the battle of ideas. Boris WON the battle for actual support, actual votes, actual seats, and actually forming a government. I’m happy with that split.”

...which was mocked by Tory party chairman James Cleverly.