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Lucy Powell’s had quite the political comeback. Sacked from cabinet by the prime minister but weeks ago, she’s back with her own powerbase and voice at the top of the party as the deputy Labour leader.
She was not Keir Starmer‘s choice and, while the prime minister was quick to embrace her on Saturday as the result was announced, he is probably right to feel some unease about the outcome for a few different reasons.
For in Powell, the party has a new, alternative figurehead that sits outside of the government machine.
Politics live: Follow updates as Labour names new deputy leader
The PM congratulates Lucy Powell after she is announced as new deputy leader. Pic: PA
She ran a campaign in which she pledged to be the voice of the membership to the leadership and the membership picked her. She will have serious influence on the National Executive Committee, and sit in the political cabinet.
What she won’t do is return to the cabinet table, which means that she has power and profile, but will remain an independent voice, free from collective cabinet responsibility.
As I understand it, Powell doesn’t want to destabilise the leadership – for now at least.
She will take a submarine approach when it comes to interventions around government policy rather than offering a running commentary on Starmer’s government and choose her battles.
That way, when she does weigh in, she is harder to ignore.
She could also over time become a lightning rod for discontent should the party’s fortunes remain as parlous as they are now.
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Powell aims to unite Labour Party
On Friday, Labour suffered a cataclysmic defeat in the Caerphilly by-election, coming third in a seat it has held for over a century as Labour endured their biggest ever drop in support in a Welsh by-election.
It’s a terrible omen for next May’s Sennedd election. Labour have been the governing party in Wales since the Senedd’s beginning in 1999. That could be about to change.
When I asked Keir Starmer about the loss on Friday, he didn’t try to deflect, saying: “I’m deeply disappointed by the results.”
When I asked him if it was a gut punch, he said: “I’m not going to suggest otherwise. I spoke to the first minister on Saturday morning, and clearly we need to reflect and regroup, and double down on the delivery, in Wales. And we clearly need to do much more.”
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Phillipson: Powell has my full support
Powell’s position now is that the party needs to pull together, get campaigning and try to build support with their voters.
But she is equally clear that this has to be down to delivery of the “national renewal” Labour promised voters in the election of 2024.
There will surely come a point, further down the road, where this new deputy leader will become more robust in her critique of the government if it fails to deliver and the party suffers.
This race has also exposed the ugliness in a party that is uneasy with its leadership and seems intent on infighting.
The constant briefing wars that emanate from Number 10 cascade down in what has been, at times, a dirty fight.
Lucy Powell accused Bridget Phillipson’s team of “throwing mud” and briefing against her in the Labour deputy leadership race on our Electoral Dysfunction podcast, while Phillipson also said she was at the sharp end of vicious smears.
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Powell hits back at claims she ‘can’t be trusted’
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For all the talk on Saturday for coming together and unity, it is hard to see that materialising while doubts persist over Starmer’s leadership and while rivals, such as Powell’s close ally Andy Burnham, are waiting in the wings.
There is also the big question of apathy. Only 16.6% of party members, trade union members and affiliates chose to vote in this election, against 59% in 2020.
This is partly distorted because in the last leadership election, members were voting for both the leader and deputy leaders. But what it also suggests is disengagement from the wider Labour movement.
In 2020, there were 552,000 party members eligible to vote, out of a total membership which stood at 782,000, including union-affiliated members who are perhaps less likely to cast a vote.
This time around there were 970,000 eligible voters – but the Labour Party did not reveal how many actual party members cast a vote.
This might be because membership figures are dropping, and it didn’t want to reveal that information. At the end of last year, party membership stood at 332,000, which is around 200,000 members less than the end of 2019.
For now, Powell insists that she and Starmer will work as a team and the message from both Powell and the PM following her victory is that all of those party must put its shoulder to the wheel to try and see off the threat of Reform.
She is undoubtedly starting out as the party’s campaigner in chief, but I suspect she may become a far more critical – and dangerous – voice, if Starmer looks like he can’t get the party in good enough shape to win the next general election.
Lucy Powell has been elected as the deputy leader of the Labour Party.
But who is she and what does she stand for?
Powell began her career in politics working for Labour MPs Glenda Jackson and Beverley Hughes.
She then worked for a pro-EU campaign group.
After that, she ran Ed Miliband’s successful Labour leadership campaign and was his deputy chief of staff until she was elected as the MP for Manchester Central in 2012.
She has been at the forefront of Labour politics for over a decade, serving under Ed Miliband, Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer.
After Labour won the last general election, she was appointed as the leader of the House of Commons in Starmer’s cabinet.
But last month she was sacked in the cabinet reshuffle and came to be seen as the anti-Starmer candidate.
During the deputy leadership campaign, Powell promised to “provide a stronger, more independent voice” for members of the Labour Party.
And in her acceptance speech, she said the government hadn’t been bold enough, and that it needed to step up.
So how much of a problem is she going to be for Keir Starmer?
Her new role – and being outside the cabinet – means she will be free to criticise the government, which could make life more difficult for the prime minister.
Read More:
Lucy Powell named Labour’s new deputy leader
Powell will take a ‘submarine approach’ – for now
Powell has been outspoken about her desire for the government to lift the two child benefit cap – and also called for the country to work for the many and not the few – a Corbyn-era slogan – and that Labour must stop handing the megaphone over to Reform and letting them run away with it.
Starmer will be conscious that an MP he sacked not long ago is now in a powerful role able to speak freely and attack his decisions.
But Powell is not free from her own controversies.
In May, Lucy Powell called grooming gangs a dog whistle issue – something she later had to clarify after it caused outrage among campaigners and opposition parties.
She also vocally defended Labour’s unpopular cut to winter fuel allowance while in cabinet, before the government then U-turned on the policy – she then criticised the proposed welfare cuts after she was sacked from government.
Powell insists she wants to help Keir Starmer, providing constructive criticism and a voice for Labour members.
But will Keir Starmer see it that way?
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