Ridge on Sunday

Labour deputy leadership candidate Dawn Butler hit headlines for appearing to suggest that the decision by the Conservatives not to nominate John Bercow – the former Speaker accused of bullying – for a peerage constitutes “a form of bullying too”.

On why Labour lost: “We have to campaign all year round, we have to have community campaigning on the ground. We weren’t doing that, we were putting organisers in very late in areas… T here was a lot of technology that didn’t work.” On the Board of Deputies’ ten pledges: “I agree that we need to have an independent disciplinary process but part of what the Board of Deputies is out for is to see some of the disciplinary cases. Well, if we have got an independent process, we then can’t give your disciplinary cases to an outside body that is not affiliated to the Labour party.” On black female MPs being ‘mixed up’: “I’ve been in politics for a number of years now, I first came in in 2015 and the fact that people are still getting me confused with other MPs is actually a disgrace.” On John Bercow being nominated for a peerage by Labour: “I think it is the norm that the Speaker of the House is always given a peerage, so I think the question is, why hasn’t he been given a peerage? […] We really do need to ask why is it that you haven’t, like everybody else, ensured that the Speaker of the House is given a peerage. I think that’s a form of bullying too.” “I am the most experienced candidate.”@DawnButlerBrent MP explains her strategy to become deputy Labour leader, claiming that she is the “unity candidate”.#Ridge

Follow live politics here: https://t.co/BE3hGR36Ua pic.twitter.com/HEsJuE69te — Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) February 9, 2020 Andy Burnham , Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, advocated prioritising the Northern Powerhouse Rail over HS2, and criticised the Labour Party and the leadership candidates for not talking about English devolution enough.

On reviewing HS2: “London to Birmingham gets a gold-plated railway and we get a second-class option or maybe nothing at all, so for a government that’s claiming to be standing for the north, I think that takes us into quite dangerous territory.”

On the way forward for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail: “If we can all agree that we now prioritise east-west on the western half of the country, get the design right at Piccadilly, get High Speed Rail to Liverpool more quickly, then I think that’s something we could get behind.”

On whether Labour is coming to terms with its defeat: “No, I don’t. I’m afraid it wasn’t just the message. We have got a top-down London-centric Labour party, it has been like that under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband and also under Jeremy Corbyn and it was the message that lost my former constituency… Changing that position on Brexit. I’m afraid to what the London wall were saying to the leader, that ignored Labour voters here and they felt disrespected.”

On English devolution: “I ran two Labour leadership bids myself, two failed bids I might say, saying Labour needed to try and break out of the Westminster bubble, but I think it’s still in there.”

On whether Labour leadership candidates are talking to members rather than voters: “I definitely think that is the problem. It is probably one of the reasons why I lost to Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 because I was thinking that we’d just lost another election, Labour people would want to win going forward.”

“It’s about taking power out of Parliament, out of Westminster.” Former health secretary, @AndyBurnhamGM tells Sky News that Labour have not come to terms with the reasons the party lost the general election.#Ridge

Follow live: https://t.co/BE3hGR36Ua pic.twitter.com/KI4x3eUgO5 — Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) February 9, 2020

Jeremy Hunt, the former Foreign Secretary, talked about the US choosing not to extradite Ann Sacoolas, accused of killing Harry Dunn. Hunt described the US decision as “totally and utterly unacceptable”.

Robert Jenrick, Housing Secretary, said: “Parliament is a better place without John Bercow.”

The Andrew Marr Show

Labour deputy leadership candidate Rosena Allin-Khan talked about the results of a Survation poll that showed she was the highest ranked candidate described as normal (77%), in-touch with ordinary people (70%), and intelligent (69%).

On running last in CLP nominations: “I am the least well-known of all the candidates on the slate. But you may have seen a poll that came out this week that said according to voters I would be their first choice for deputy leader.” On Labour’s defeat: “People liked what was in our manifesto… But people didn’t trust us to deliver on that. That was the problem.” On protecting vulnerable older people: “We should have mandatory CCTV with an opt-out clause, we should have older people’s advocates, and we should have a truly independent reporting system.” On working with the Conservatives on social care: “Of course. We have to do what is in the best interests of the most vulnerable in our society. But the Tories, they promised a lot… there is still no sign of the social care green paper.” On whether she agrees with Richard Burgon that Labour members should be balloted on military action: “No, I don’t agree. We made some unforgivable mistakes, and I personally marched against going to war in Iraq. But having been on the frontline… there are people whose lives depend on split-second decisions, taken as a result of access to highly intelligent information that is not for public dissemination.” Labour deputy leadership candidate Rosena Allin-Khan says Labour should be prepared to work with the Conservative party on the social care crisis#Marr https://t.co/pyXmzsz49Y pic.twitter.com/kU4o3klQCe — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) February 9, 2020



Pienaar’s Politics

Jenny Chapman, former Labour MP and chair of Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign, talked about Labour reporting their campaign to the Information Commissioner. She described claims that members of Starmer’s team breached data as “utter, utter nonsense”. Lord Falconer suggested the move was intended to damage Starmer, saying: “It tells us much more about the sense of the left in Labour losing its grip on the party.”