Politics Home Article | Women Labour MPs “Disappointed” By The Prospect Of Another Male Leader

Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner, Bridget Phillipson, and Lisa Nandy have all served as Cabinet ministers in Keir Starmer’s Labour government (Alamy)

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Members of the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), including some who would back Andy Burnham or Wes Streeting in a future race, told PoliticsHome that the party is overdue a female leader.

A formal leadership challenge has not yet been launched to topple Starmer. However, either a contest or a coronation is widely seen as likely soon, after Streeting stepped down as health secretary last week and announced his intention to stand when a contest is underway, and Greater Manchester mayor Burnham announced that he will stand in a parliamentary by-election to re-enter Parliament.

If Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election in June, he is the top choice among Labour members to replace Starmer as leader – with 47 per cent ranking him as their first preference in a YouGov poll this week.

In the same poll, 31 per cent of members said they would support Starmer staying in post, with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner trailing behind in third on just eight per cent, followed by Streeting on four per cent.

Rayner has long been seen as a potential successor to Starmer, and last week announced that she has resolved her tax affairs with HMRC following an investigation into whether she underpaid stamp duty on her £800,000 flat in Hove. 

Now that the investigation has been resolved, it potentially frees her up to make a bid for the leadership herself. However, if Burnham is able to stand, 69 per cent of party members would vote for him over Rayner, according to YouGov.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Deputy Leader Lucy Powell are all also senior female Labour figures who could throw their hats in the ring – but none have nearly as much support across the party as Burnham.

“It’s depressing,” one female Labour MP who has called for the PM to resign told PoliticsHome. 

She said it was “frustrating” that the current leadership “haven’t fostered a culture” where a female leader emerging is “likely”, and described “wider societal misogyny that comes gunning for strong Labour women with a viciousness that you don’t see elsewhere”.

Labour MP Cat Eccles, who has also suggested that Starmer make way for a new leader, said: “We’re definitely overdue for a female leader and if or when we end up in a leadership contest, I hope we see some strong women contenders. 

“So, ideologically yes, but ultimately I think we need the person who can connect and communicate best with people.”

Multiple members of the Women’s PLP told PoliticsHome that female MPs were afraid to put themselves forward for leadership contests due to a combination of misogynistic bullying in the party and the level of online abuse directed towards female politicians on social media.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has previously told The House how she found the experience of running for leader so bruising it put her off ever doing it again.

Senior Labour MP Emily Thornberry recently ruled herself out. Asked by The House whether should try again for the top job, she replied: “No, no, no. I’ve done it before, and it was really difficult and a horrible experience.”

Others spoke about feeling frustrated that there has been a tendency for senior Labour male politicians to “talk about themselves” and that “journalists are just repeating this” – while many women in the PLP feel that the top women in the Cabinet, such as Bridget Phillipson and Shabana Mahmood, have been prioritising just getting on with their jobs.

“People (men) who name themselves get named as future leaders and bigged up,” one senior female Labour MP said.

While many women Labour MPs are disheartened by the prospect of having another male leader, they are also willing to overlook this in favour of a candidate who they believe might be able to turn the party and country around.

A female Labour MP who is likely to back Streeting in a contest said: “I’d be disappointed, but you can’t ‘make’ a woman stand for the sake of it. 

“I think the question should be: why do none of the brilliant women in the PLP feel like they can’t stand?”

The MP added that they believe Streeting has gained more support from the women’s PLP in recent months, and has particularly proven that he genuinely cares about tackling violence against women and girls.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who would support Burnham in a contest, said: “There are so many talented women in the Labour Party, but I think we all recognise that we are in extraordinary times where we need to ensure that we are able to stabilise the party and country, and therefore unite behind someone with the breadth of experience needed to do this.

“However, we must work beyond the current situation to ensure that the next leader is a woman.”

She argued that the “culture of politics” must change and that Starmer had moved it into a “far more authoritarian model”: “Whereas the roots of our party are built on the voices of people from our communities, where all are valid, and debate is encouraged.”

Some Labour MPs who are supportive of the prime minister staying in post suggested that the prospect of replacing a man with another man, when the Tories are on their fourth female leader, would be “embarrassing”.

One female Labour MP who is backing the PM said: “It reflects really badly on us as a party… We all need to think about how we change that.”

Male Labour MPs also told PoliticsHome they found it “disappointing” and “depressing” that the party was yet to select a permanent female leader, describing the party as having “many excellent female MPs”.

A male MP on the left of the Labour Party said they “blame the Labour right”. 

“By trying to exclude the left from future contests, they’ve, by default, also blocked women and Black candidates,” he continued. 

“However, I’m firmly of the opinion that sex and race are minor factors. Kemi Badenoch is both. As is Shabana Mahmood. Race and sex are not a guarantor of being a good candidate. Your actual class politics and political culture you embrace matter far more.”