Jess Phillips is wrong to tell men to ‘pass the mic’

When Labour leadership challenger Jess Phillips urged men to ‘pass the mic’ to a woman on the top job, telling Sky’s Sophy Ridge it would ‘look bad’ if Labour failed to elect a woman, she more or less admitted not being up to the job. Surely the weakest argument any leadership candidate could use is demanding a step-up based on their sex? In effect, Phillips is trying to knock out the leading candidate, Keir Starmer, because he’s a man.

We heard a similar argument on Question Time last week. When Laurence Fox was asked who he preferred as the Labour leader, he replied ‘Keir Starmer – he just looks like he can take Boris on quite well.’ Quick as a flash, Shami Chakrabarti – who had only just declared that she wasn’t going to share her opinion on the Labour leadership race – suddenly developed a view and snapped back: ‘You don’t think any of the four women?’ Laurence, now being lauded as a hero of the anti-woke fight-back pointed out: ‘It’s not about women! Jeepers creepers!’ He added, rather sarcastically: ‘Sorry, let me rewind: any of the women.