She’s had death threats, seen her friend and fellow MP murdered, and has just survived a bruising election campaign. So what drives her?
• ‘I’ve intervened in environments that would make the toughest men cry’: read an extract from Jess Phillips’ latest book
The pub is empty when we arrive. “Can you fit us in?” Jess Phillips asks the barman, followed by the familiar smirk. She can’t help herself. Phillips has never been your regular MP. She’s a warm, wise-cracking, potty-mouthed, deeply serious showoff. She’s political Marmite. Lots of people love her, while a fair few hate her with a passion. At least half a dozen men have been convicted of abuse, death and rape threats.
She orders half a lager, then mocks herself for being such a wuss. “Half a lager!” she parrots, as if she can’t quite believe that it’s come to this. But Phillips is exhausted. It’s six days since the most remarkable British general election in decades, with Labour transforming the 2019 trouncing into a landslide victory. On a night of memorable moments (the unseating of Liz Truss, Jeremy Corbyn winning as an independent, Nigel Farage becoming an MP at his eighth attempt, and on it goes), the most memorable might well belong to Phillips – and not in a good way. She had started the day with a majority of 10,659 and only just held on to her Birmingham Yardley seat by 693 votes, with George Galloway’s Workers party of Great Britain, standing on a pro-Palestine platform, finishing a close second. When she began her victory speech, she was heckled by Workers party supporters. She looked both distraught and furious.
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