Jess Phillips says she could consider bid for Labour leader if Corbyn stands down
The Birmingham Yardley MP says she "might" stand to replace Jeremy Corbyn if she thinks she can make a difference.
Saturday 12 October 2019 15:10, UK
Labour MP Jess Phillips has said she may consider putting herself forward to succeed Jeremy Corbyn if he stands down.
The Birmingham Yardley MP said Mr Corbyn should step aside if Labour is not the largest party in the Commons following the next general election.
Ms Phillips, a critic of the Labour leader in the past, said she "might" then stand to replace him if she thinks she can make a difference.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said on Friday that Mr Corbyn will quit as Labour leader if the party does not win power at the next election - and that his successor should be a woman.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival about whether she could make a bid for the top job, Ms Phillips said: "Might do, yes.
"The answer is I genuinely don't know. I'd have to see how the land lay at that moment.
"What I don't want to be is just a personality in politics. We have gone too far down that rabbit hole.
"If I stand it has to be not just because people trust me, people do trust me, it isn't just because people feel connected with that.
"That's not enough, it has to be about having a genuine plan for the future for our country.
"At that time, I would make that assessment about whether I was the best thing for the future of the country."
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On Labour's chances at the next election, which could happen by the end of the year, Ms Phillips said it was "not impossible" for the party to win more seats than anyone else.
But she claimed a majority was unlikely.
"I don't think anyone will win an election," Ms Phillips said.
"It's not impossible and anything could happen.
"I could see the numbers last time and a lot of people said to me, 'see what happened last time'.
"What happened last time was that the Labour Party didn't win the election.
"So, it could be the biggest party and even when I look at the polls, and I see the Tories are surging forward at the moment, I actually can't see the numbers where they make up the seats that they'll lose in Scotland.
"If it was proportional representation then the Tories would end up the biggest party, but our system is weird.
"So yes, the Labour Party could be the biggest party."