Jess Phillips in Corby - “I thought, if Chris Grayling can become the Justice Secretary, I can be the Queen of the World”

Widely tipped by some for a top job in a future Labour government, MP Jess Phillips says that running for leader was never going to work for her.

She gave up her bid after just two weeks into the campaign when she stood against Keir Starmer in 2020.

"I hated every single minute of it,” she told teens at Thrapston Library.

"I’m not a politician who can work in a machine.

"I hated having people around me telling me what I should think about things. My skill set isn’t saying the things that people want to hear.

"I also like drinking and dancing and you can’t really do that if you’re the prime minister.”

Her ambitions now lie in a great office of state, with the Home Secretary’s job on her radar.

The member for Birmingham Yardley and Labour’s Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence visited North Northamptonshire yesterday for a sell-out constituency party fundraising Q&A at The Raven Hall to support her friend Lee Barron, who was recently selected as Corby’s prospective parliamentary candidate.

She started her afternoon with a whistle-stop tour of the area, visiting Pen Green and Thrapston Youth Forum.

During her visit she criticised the present Government’s priorities and said more emphasis should be placed on the safety of women and girls.

“Until you see Rishi Sunak standing in front of a plinth that says ‘Stop the Rapists’ instead of ‘Stop the Boats’, it’s clear it’s not a particular priority for them. But halving serious violent crime is one of Labour’s priorities,” she said.

While being shown around Pen Green, Corby’s cavernous, world-renowned children’s centre, nursery and all-round life-saver for women, children and families who need help, Jess said she wished her own constituency had such a facility.

Crucial additions like a creche for women doing the Freedom programme, and meeting spaces for women with issues like post-natal depression, have been developed by a team that is in touch with its community, and are what marks Pen Green out as a pioneering place unlike any other in the UK.

And yet many of its extra services, which make a huge difference to outcomes for the children of Corby, are being pared back following funding cut after funding cut overseen by a Conservative council and government.

Angela Prodger, who now runs Pen Green but started out as a nursery nurse there thirty years ago, said that since the Conservative unitary authority came into being in 2021, the centre’s funding has come ‘under attack.’

She told Jess that there was a fundamental mistake made by NNC when they failed to explain the centre’s unique funding model to the Department for Education, Because of this error, the Government simply split the cash destined for Northants into nine – evenly between all the maintained nurseries, ignoring the intricately developed complementary services that Pen Green offers.

"We’ve had £1m taken from our budget over the past two years,” she said.

"We were also told we were not getting one of the Government’s new family hubs here, despite the fact Corby was the only town that fit into the Government’s own criteria.”

Jess said: “I wish my own constituency had a children’s centre like this. Children’s centres are the only community services that many areas still have left and we should be learning from a place like Pen Green.”

Over in Thrapston library, Jess – mum to two teenagers – met members of the town’s youth forum, who she encouraged to get out and vote.

"If we don’t get young people out to vote, and the same level of people over the age of 50 continue voting, we’ll have policy that doesn’t care about you,” she told them.

"The minimum wage for under-25s is less than it is for me. They’ve literally written age discrimination into law.

"We elected a 25-year-old in Selby and you’d have thought we’d have elected Hitler given the reaction.”

The teens told Jess about a home-to-school transport review that means some parents will face bills of £1,000 to get their kids to school.

She said: “This is scandalous. Follow the money, ask a coach company for a quote.

"It seems like the council is making money off you.”

Jess told the youngsters she’d entered politics after a meeting with the then Tory minister Chris Grayling over the probation service cuts.

"I thought if Chris Grayling can become the justice secretary, I can be the queen of the world,” she said.

When asked why it appeared Labour currently lacked direction, Jess described the current political situation in the UK as a ‘bin fire’, she said that Labour party was entering ‘the unknown’.

"People wanting the Labour party to be specific at the moment are asking the party to lie. We are very, very limited in the scope of what we’ll be able to do.”

And while Jess has a majority of more than 10,000 in her constituency, she’s not taking anything for granted.

"I always bet on my opponent winning,” she said. “Because if you don’t get in, at least you get £50 which is an upside.”