Jess Phillips is expected to launch her bid for Labour leader this evening, having only said up to this point that she is seriously considering a bid to take over from Jeremy Corbyn. She is both the candidate most identified with the ‘moderate’ side of the party and the most high-profile, but that doesn’t mean she is launching with a particularly well-formulated policy platform. In fact, while Phillips is well-known for her dislike of Corbyn and her altercation with Diane Abbott pretty early on as an MP, it’s not quite as easy to work out what she thinks.
Phillips has largely exerted her influence in Parliament in two ways. The first is as a campaigner on issues she knows a great deal about from her pre-parliamentary life, including domestic abuse and cuts to school funding. The latter is an example of how Phillips has been vocal on on aspect of an issue without setting out her wider stall: we know that she thinks schools should have enough money to be able to stay open all day on a Friday, but it’s rather less clear what she thinks the structure of the education system should be: would she allow more free schools, for instance? What is her position on Ofsted? It is easy to campaign for more money for something, especially if you’re seeking to lead the Labour party.
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