Why does Keir Starmer’s Labour consider Eddie Izzard unelectable?

As the comedian is thwarted in her latest bid to become a Labour candidate, Sean O’Grady hopes the reason for her ongoing failure to make headway in the ugly world of politics isn’t transphobia

Eddie Izzard, a beautiful person, inside and out (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

Politics, as the old saying goes, is just showbiz for ugly people. You can see plentiful examples of that around, for sure – but it makes one all the more curious as to why the gender-fluid comedian and activist Eddie Izzard wants to be a Labour MP.

Izzard – who prefers to go by the name Suzy and to use the pronouns she/her, but doesn't mind "he/him" and has said she will be "remaining Eddie Izzard in public" – has failed in her latest bid to be the prospective parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, having also failed to be chosen in Sheffield Central.

Such a beautiful person, inside and out, she can’t really want to fade away on some select committee? Frankly, I’d have thought she would have much more influence – indeed, already has much more of a profile – doing what she does now than mouldering away on the backbenches for the duration of her rather dull political career.

It’s interesting that those two great, progressive, left-leaning cities – both of which have enormous student populations, and a huge Green vote – are where Izzard has sought and failed to be nominated as the official Labour candidate.

Perhaps for similar reasons Izzard has failed to be elected to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, though did serve time on it as a nominated member when a vacancy arose. Izzard would do well to remember what became of the late Glenda Jackson, the Oscar-winning actress who became the Labour MP for Hampstead and, more or less, was never heard of again.

But what are the reasons for Izzard’s failure to make headway in the ugly world of politics? It’s difficult to surmise, but one hopes that it’s not a form of transphobia, either on the part of the party leadership fearing backlash from the public as part of the confected culture wars and so choosing to block her progress; or timidity in the party of the constituency party members.

After all, it might simply be a clash of logistics. Izzard is currently in rehearsals for a solo performance of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, which will have a six-week run in New York in February, a crucial moment in Labour’s general election campaign.

On balance, even in today’s seemingly tightly controlled party, local Labour activists are perfectly capable of exercising their own judgment, and, though they’re probably not as “right on” as they think they are, the idea of having someone such as Izzard carrying the banner in a general election wouldn’t repulse them.

It must be admitted that some voters probably would find Izzard’s dress sense a bit off-putting, but in today’s political climate, Izzard could probably gain the prime minister’s seat in a fair fight. Even the massed forces of our transphobic media couldn’t stop the Izzard phenomenon, once she gets going. Forces of nature aren’t afraid of newspaper columnists.

So I suspect that Izzard’s setbacks are probably because of her politics. And, from what little I’ve seen of her political work, let’s say she’s not as impressive on policy as she is as a stand-up. It’s likely that Izzard is a bit too lefty, and thus less electable, for the taste of many constituency parties who’ve been through the ordeals of the last four lost general elections.

There is a kind of ruthless determination in Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to let nothing get in the way of winning the next election, up to and including denouncing its last leader, Jeremy Corbyn, once so popular and beloved. This discipline has been imposed from the top, of course, but it is also self-imposed by the activists grown weary of being a mere party of protest and letting the country down.

What they see in Izzard, fairly or otherwise, is probably someone best suited to protesting rather than making tough decisions on priorities. Eddie Izzard is just too nice and kind and too beautiful a personality to be a Labour MP in the Starmer era, frock or not.