Jess Phillips to quit leadership bid

[Feminazgul]

Well well well.

Maybe she didnt want to do a Swinson after all!

A week ago she was saying she's the only candidate who could do what needed to be done. It would appear that's not getting done then!

She pretty much said that in the webchat. Didn't she say she was the only one who could beat Boris?

No doubt Evil Women Asking Questions will be blamed, as usual.

"Questions are fine", though.

I think Sarah Ditum got it succinctly here:

Reading Jess Phillips' Mumsnet chat, I feel less and less convinced by her answer gender ID policy questions by referring to her experience in the women's sector. If anything that makes it worse that the GRA inquiry she was on didn't take evidence from the sector

And the more I think about that, the more I think that she hasn't really had to handle a brief or any policy detail, and in one instance when are did, the result was an unimpressive lack of scrutiny that let activists dictate policy

I'm sorry to find myself feeling that way because she's stalwart on prostitution & supporting Counting Dead Women, & a good energetic advocate for her constituents. But she's obviously not ready for leadership & this campaign seems to be exposing how little she's aware of that

I agree with this assessment.

Wait, was zana's comment meant to be funny? Cause I giggled, a lot.

Where I am less sympathetic to Jess Phillips is that she presented herself as a feminist champion taking on leftwing bullyboys

How very dare she??! Gotta love Owen, subtle as a sledgehammer.

Nancy’s got the GMB nomination. That’s third biggest union.

I'm glad she's gone. It's a shame the support she received didn't go to a decent MP...there are others who wished to stand as leader who would have made better candidates.

I am glad she has gone. She was Labour's answer to Boris Johnson.
Vapid, narcissistic, underqualified, disloyal, arrogant.
Oh, and also doesn't know what the definition of woman is.
{To be fair, Bo Jo could probably answer this one correctly... he's procreated with enough of them }

@GenderfreeJoe

Jess is now backing Nandy with Starmer as second choice so she will probably be backing a man in the final ballot a week after telling men to pass the mic

Sadly I think many people may end up doing that zanahoria, due to the alternative being Long-Bailey.

Properly a good idea to throw the towel in now.

Phillips is a conspiracy theorist and she doesn't try to hide it. Her involvement with Esther Baker and her disgusting and unbelievable allegations against the former LibDem MP for Phillips' constituency (Birmingham Yardley) John Hemming were encouraged by Phillips.

Unfortunately everything is documented. Hemming received damages in The High Court from others involved in the promotion of the lies, but Phillips has yet to make that apology. Eventually the mainstream media was going to focus on her. After Tom Watson and Corbyn, I don't reckon Labour doesn't need another conspiracy theorist in a senior role.

barthsnotes.com/2017/09/05/vip-child-sex-abuse-claims-a-note-on-esther-baker-and-john-hemming/

And Hemming's blog statement from just November last year, the day after the High Court case was concluded;

johnhemming.blogspot.com/2019/11/statement-re-false-allegations-campaign.html

'A substantial campaign was built up to promote allegations which had no substance to them. Various Labour MPs and in particular Jess Phillips and Tom Watson supported this campaign. Jess Phillips is not and never has been the constituency member of parliament for the Esther Baker. However, she dedicated a considerable amount of time to ensuring that the allegations got the maximum publicity including inviting Baker to meet her in the House of Commons.'

Unfortunately Phillips presents herself as a nasty piece of work, who won't hesitate to abuse her position. Perhaps she is actually quite nice, but her documented actions suggest otherwise.

I think Sarah Ditum nailed it on Jess Phillips. She prides herself on being outspoken but the reality that's far too often an excuse for speaking without thinking or researching the issues at hand. That makes her a liability - which is the last thing the party needs right now.

I like Nandy and think she might be the dark horse in this race. She's going a strong presence and seems to really get the notion that the LP need to change. I'd like to see a run off between her and KS.

That said I think it may well come down to KS and RLB.

My worry is that the former may have the majority support in the PLP and wider public, RLB is going to get a lot of votes from the Corbyn camp - despite the fact she's championing a failed agenda and has less charisma than dead frog.

If Nandy is almost everyone’s second preference she might squeak it (I will be voting LN/RB/KS to give Nandy the best chance).

Nandy understands the metropolitan city/everywhere else Labour problem better than the other two. She’s thoughtful, not overly tainted with being too ‘Remain’ nor stuck with the mantel of ‘Corbyn/McDonnell’s appointed successor’. She’s had a baby while in parliament, so has first hand experience of juggling mum/work life. The only TWAW stuff from her isn’t recent (please, please internet, let me be right on this!) and it’s definitely a position that falls away fairly quickly the more you explore the debate. When she wrote about the Tories supposed plan to weaponise anti LGBT intolerance she wrote more about how the Tories were underestimating the intelligence of working class communities and neighbourhoods, rather than going full-on batshit Dawn Butleresque. She’s not in with the wokest of woke Momentum people who greenlighted that awful Juno Dawson GRA propaganda without consulting their actual members. Most people on my CLP have a positive to neutral opinion on her, wherever they sit in Labour’s broad church. She’s gaining support the more media she does (unlike Jo Swindon in the GE).

My own MP, who I respect and know reasonably well socially (and occasionally robustly disagree with!) has nominated Nandy. Full list of the MPs nominations is here (although the Union info needs updating):

labour.org.uk/people/leadership-2020-nominations/leadership-2020/

agree Nandy looks good I would seriously consider voting for her in a GE.