My crazy first five years as an MP
Labour’s Jo Stevens reveals exactly what her first years in the job have been like...
WE HEAR a lot of talk at the moment about the “new normal”, but reflecting this week on the fifth anniversary of first being elected in 2015 as Cardiff Central’s Labour MP, I’ve learnt that “normal” just isn’t how politics works anymore.
Who would have imagined that the past five years would bring three different prime ministers, two more general elections and enough political change to fill entire history books?
I headed to Parliament knowing full well that, despite a Labour victory against the tide in Cardiff Central, a majority Conservative government was in power for the first time since 1997. That meant another five years of brutal austerity and likely a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. In other words, it was going to be an uphill battle to protect my constituents from the worst.
Some things never change, though. Parliament is place full of strange, inexplicable traditions, a building you never quite stop getting lost in and you’re forever resolving 21st-century political issues wading through centuries-old traditions and customs. My attitude has always been to roll up my sleeves, work hard and just get on with representing my constituents to the very best of my ability.
Ed Milliband had resigned following our defeat in the polls and an election for the new Labour leader was under way. I broke the whip to vote against the new Tory Welfare Bill, never expecting that I would be at odds with the interim leadership’s position on an issue like social security so soon after being elected.
Being cornered “for a quick word” in dark corridors in advance of the vote made those many political novels and memoirs I had read become very real.
Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Labour leader on the back of a huge surge in new members of the Labour Party. I was asked to become Shadow Justice Minister and Shadow Solicitor General and so joined up my legal background with my new political life.
In the summer of 2016, having just finished another tough campaign to hold Cardiff Central and return my colleague Jenny Rathbone to the Senedd, we launched straight into another to keep the UK in the European Union. A campaign which brought the darkest day with the news that my friend and colleague Jo Cox MP had been murdered outside her constituency surgery.
I’ll never forget the feeling of that news filtering through as I was watching our long-awaited Euro 2016 game against England. None of that mattered any more.
Jo and I shared much more than a name. We entered Parliament together, we spent time inside and outside working together and there’s a special bond between MPs who enter Parliament at the same time – you always look out for one another.
In just one year in Parliament, Jo had made a huge impact across all sides of the Commons as an effective campaigner, someone who got difficult things done. We work to make sure her memory lives on in the Great Get Together events you see across the country each summer.
The EU referendum campaign was the most toxic and brutal campaign I have been involved in. I was heartbroken when the result was announced and the turbulent three years that followed will provide historians and commentators more material than they’d expect in a decade.
David Cameron bailed out, leaving the mess he had created behind him for others to clear up, and Theresa May became the new prime minister.
The Labour Party was having what can politely be described as “internal difficulties”. There was another leadership election and Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected. Labour became the biggest political party in Europe.
I joined the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, with the immediate challenge of trying to get last-minute changes to the UK Government’s Wales Bill to make it fit for purpose. I was proud to be leading for Labour on Wales in the Shadow Cabinet and at the dispatch box, but I soon had another big decision to make.
The vote to trigger Article 50 to start the negotiation timetable on the terms of leaving the EU was coming up. I argued that we shouldn’t support triggering, that the Government had set out no plan about what it was seeking to achieve or how. It would literally mean a leap into the unknown.
I lost that argument in the Shadow Cabinet. The collective decision was to support triggering and so I resigned in order to vote against it. I have never regretted voting against triggering Article 50 and I never will.
Then further turmoil hit. Theresa May took what transpired to be her worst political decision and announced a snap general election, aiming to increase her majority and boost her negotiating clout with the EU. With Labour trailing by 20% in the polls, it looked like she would get it. I remember switching off the television, stuffing papers and shoes and my laptop into a suitcase and virtually running out of Parliament to get back home.
Just two years into what was expected to be a five-year term, we got our Cardiff Central election campaign team together and a campaign plan ready within hours. We were in the middle of a successful election campaign to retain control of Cardiff Council too and, by the end of the campaigns, we were exhausted. We again bucked the trend in Cardiff Central becoming the constituency with the biggest majority in Wales.
But Labour had lost the election and Theresa May hung on to power with the support of the DUP. She had the slimmest of majorities and the Tory Party internal warfare burst out into the open. Parliament searched for a way forward on Brexit, but the different views in Westminster were a microcosm of the different views across the country.
For months amidst the carnage of three huge government defeats on the EU Withdrawal Bill, indicative votes and no-confidence votes, the backdrop got more toxic and divisive. The horror of Jo’s murder and the promise to use language carefully and think about its possible impact had evaporated.
Politicians were labelled as “traitors”, women MPs in particular were subject to death threats, there was talk of riots on the streets. It was ugly and frightening. It changed how I lived my life, how my constituency office was able to function – and that’s the same for most MPs.
Theresa May hung on longer than most expected. She looked broken. Parliament was chaotic and gripping. Both Tory and Labour MPs defected to other parties. Seriously ill and heavily pregnant MPs were wheeled into Parliament to vote. Guessing the numbers on critical votes became a daily pastime for the media.
Theresa May finally caved in and the Tories clinically replaced her with Boris Johnson, the third prime minister in just four years. Johnson suffered a series of defeats and we then had the incredible spectacle of his shutting down Parliament – declared unlawful by the Supreme Court – and MPs taking charge of Parliament’s business instead of government and, to top it off, yet another general election was called.
After a convincing 2019 Tory victory, and a painful Labour defeat, we did, of course, eventually leave the European Union. But with the UK’s future relationship with Europe still to be agreed, we haven’t seen the end of Brexit just yet. Now, of course, we face another challenge.
In just a few short weeks, life in the UK has changed beyond recognition. Most people are locked down at home, too many have lost loved ones and businesses stand on the brink of collapse.
Only months ago, the idea of the Government paying the wages of nearly everyone who needed it would have seemed bonkers, now it’s a necessity.
Coronavirus has starkly exposed our country’s inequality, insecurity and the impact of 10 years of austerity in a way which nothing else has. Our broken social security safety net, millions dependent on low-paid, insecure work, sky-high rents for homes, small businesses right on the edge of collapse and our NHS and local government services desperately and admirably doing their very best for us despite a decade of UK government cuts.
Labour has a new leader, Keir Starmer, elected with a huge majority in the middle of the lockdown. Labour has a huge challenge ahead after our worst election defeat since 1935.
I’ve returned to the Shadow Cabinet as Labour’s Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary. Parliament is operating virtually. Politicians of all stripes are working together, trying to constructively engage and help make the national response to coronavirus the best possible.
When we get through this crisis, things must be different. Everyone is learning under the most difficult of circumstances what’s really important, who we really rely on to live our lives safely, securely and healthily.
Just like the past five years could never have been predicted, anticipating what the next five years hold is impossible.
I hope I’ll still be representing the wonderful people of Cardiff Central and, if I am, I’ll put pen to paper and let you know how it’s gone.