How Labour can win: Bridget Phillipson on childcare, Brexit and faith

On 12 April last year, Boris Johnson’s fixed penalty notice was dominating the news. Few noticed another, perhaps equally seismic political story in Bournemouth: a member of Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet was being booed by the unions. Speaking at the National Education Union’s annual conference, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson faced a revolt. She had reneged on a Corbyn-era pledge to abolish the schools inspectorate, Ofsted.

‘It began with heckling and then it became louder and there was a mass walkout. They continued the demonstration outside the conference hall,’ Phillipson says nonchalantly. Was she put off? ‘I was taken aback by the degree of hostility. If they are not prepared to listen then that’s rather disrespectful – but that’s on them.’

The 39-year-old Gateshead-born MP for Houghton and Sunderland South has stuck by her policy. A Labour government will instead look to reform the watchdog by handing it greater powers to sanction failing schools. ‘It’s working-class kids who lose out when there is a failure to deliver high standards in our schools,’ she says.

She praises Estonia for its guaranteed access to early years childcare, and wants to replicate that here

Phillipson isn’t afraid of riling the Labour base. When we meet in her Commons office, she is preparing for a speech next week about childcare to the centre-right thinktank Onward. It comes after her colleague Jonathan Ashworth caused panic in No. 10 by addressing the solid Tory policy of welfare reform. The message from the Labour frontbench is simple: if there is a shortage of ideas, Starmer’s party is keen to fill the void.

‘I’ve got to win the next election and that means making sure that we’re speaking to the voters we need to win over next time around,’ Phillipson explains, insisting that despite Labour’s consistent 20-plus poll lead, victory should not be taken for granted (‘we’re still a long way out’).