Labour MP Laura Pidcock: Tories are humans

Emilio Casalicchio

Firebrand Labour MP Laura Pidcock has said she can be friendly with Conservative MPs “because they are humans”.



The left-winger was slammed in August when she branded Tories “the enemy” and said she had “absolutely no intention of being friends with any of them”.

But in an apparent turnaround the North West Durham MP said she had been working well with her opponents campaigning on issues close to her heart.

“I am very friendly, I sit on a justice select committee with Tories, I ask them to sign letters, EDMs,” she told the Guardian.

“I’m very friendly with Conservatives because they are humans.”

But she said it was “ridiculous” to suggest Tory MPs had made any attempt to make friends in return – and suggested criticism of her earlier comments were an attempt to silence her.

“I think the thing about friendships is about trying to control me, to put me in line, to tell me ‘Listen you, that’s how this place works, don’t you think you can be different’,” she explained.

Earlier this year Ms Pidcock told pro-Corbyn campaigning site the Skwawkbox: "Whatever type they [Tories] are, I have absolutely no intention of being friends with any of them.

“I have friends I choose to spend time with. I go to Parliament to be a mouthpiece for my constituents and class – I’m not interested in chatting on."

But a month later she softened her stance, telling the BBC she would "look for any opportunity with Tory MPs to get things done for my constituency".

She said: "I sit on all-party parliamentary groups, I'm perfectly civil, I'm nice, I'm friendly.

“But the idea that to actually get things done you've got to have these private background conversations, you've got to go to the Strangers' Bar and fraternise - that's not a democratic process."