Long-bailey: no peerage for Bercow
Corbyn’s favoured Labour leadership hopeful defies plan to elevate ex-speaker and wants Lords abolished
JEREMY CORBYN’S plan to elevate John Bercow to the House of Lords was dealt a blow by his favoured successor, Rebecca Long-bailey, yesterday.
The Labour leadership candidate indicated she did not support the decision, with a spokesman saying she prefers “abolishing” the second chamber, and replacing it with a “democratically elected senate outside of London”. Mr Bercow was accused of bullying by former staffers while he was speaker for the Commons, and became the first holder of the post in 230 years not to be offered a peerage on his resignation last year.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission, which vets nominees, is still able to intervene, and sources sug- gested that Mr Bercow’s elevation may yet be blocked.
One senior Conservative MP said: “His application will have to be vetted. If it feels like these allegations of workplace bullying and harassment are still hanging over him, then his application will have to be stopped.
“It’s a very strange move from Labour to nominate someone who is facing these accusations, while purporting to be the party of workers.” Martin
Vickers, the Tory MP for Cleethorpes, suggested that Mr Bercow’s divisive Brexit meddling had “inadvertently given the Conservatives our biggest majority in decades”.
“I am just glad the nomination did not come from my party,” he added.
Mr Corbyn’s nomination of Karie Murphy, his former chief of staff, was also met by a backlash from senior Labour figures, as her role in the handling of Labour’s anti-semitism complaints is still being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, branded it “hypocritical, and a reward for failure”, while Rosena Allin-khan, the deputy leadership candidate, also expressed concern.
Jess Phillips, the leadership hopeful, said: “I don’t think anybody should be given a peerage who is currently under investigation by the EHRC.”
She also warned that the party would do itself a “disservice” if it elects another man as leader.
With four women up against Sir Keir Starmer for the leadership, she said that men sometimes need to “pass the mic” if they “truly believe” in gender equality. Asked how it would look if Labour elected another man as leader, she told Sophy Ridge on Sunday that it would be “true to form”.
“The Labour Party has a blind spot in this regard, it always has. It’s genuinely frustrating because it does a disservice to the party’s record on women, but I think it would look bad,” she said.
She also raised the prospect of a Labour government under her leadership decriminalising drugs.
“I am definitely open to different models around decriminalisation, but I am not here saying all drugs should be free, and you should be able to buy it in every shop,” she said.
“But I think we do need to have a conversation because what we’re doing now is currently not working.”