‘We're over half the talent’: Jess Phillips calls on Andy Burnham to put more women in top jobs if he becomes PM
Labour MP Jess Phillips has told LBC Andy Burnham must include more women in his top team if he becomes PM and there’s “plenty of talent” to pick from.
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The former safeguarding minister is just one of several female Labour MPs asking Britain’s most likely next Prime Minister to commit to ensuring at least 50% of his ministers are women when he enters Number 10.
Speaking to Tonight with Andrew Marr, she said equality is “absolutely in the blood of the Labour Party”, pointing out that there has in fact always been “a bit of a commitment to at least 50% of the jobs being women”.
But the MP for Birmingham Yardley argued that as women make up “over 50% of the talent”, they need not just to be in the room but to also hold positions of power and decision-making.
Ms Phillips met with Mr Burnham alongside fellow members of the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party Group (WPLPG) earlier today.
She said: "As I said in the meeting, I think I heckled that actually the women in the Labour Party might not be 50%, but we're over 50% of the talent.
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“So he's got plenty to pick from, there's plenty of talent in that room… just putting women in positions won't do it.
"They have to be imbued with power. Decisions have to be made with women in the room, and those women have to be able to feel that they can speak against the pervading power if that power is a man. And often they don't.”
A letter from the group handed to Mr Burnham during the meeting requested that half of his Number 10 staff are female and that he commits to giving the role of Deputy Prime Minister to a woman.
The female MPs also asked that the Makerfield MP commits to creating a First Minister of State for Women role who attends cabinet.
Ms Phillips said: “I think that what was certainly got across by many women in the room today to Andy Burnham is that it isn't just about having women in the room, it is the ability for you to listen to them, give them power, and listen when they speak.
“Giving someone a job is not it, and then just ignoring them when they speak will not work. And he definitely got that message from the women in the PLP today.”
The letter from the WPLPG and backed by the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Women and Girls Harriet Harman, says the female MPs “fought very hard to achieve our electoral success only to find that we are battling within our own party to be heard as women.”
It also says that, since Labour’s election win in 2024, the group has “raised concerns about structural misogyny, the culture in No10, bullying behaviour being rewarded, sexual harassment being ignored and engagement with both the party and the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] being inadequate.”
The group have also requested a “zero tolerance” of bullying, misogynistic briefings, as well as sexual harassment of colleagues and staff, saying these behaviours should be considered eliminatory to any government position.
Accusations that Sir Keir Starmer’s administration has a “boys club” culture have intensified since the fallout of Peter Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador.
A female Labour MP said “the Mandelson scandal was a moment of crisis which requires a crisis-level response. We have not had a response from the current administration that is sufficient to the scale of the problem.
“These asks outline an approach which should mean that no poor behaviour is seen as an acceptable risk and is instead assessed as a poor professional mark that reduces the overall performance and effectiveness of us as a government and as a party.”
The Labour Party has never elected a female leader. Asked why this is, Ms Philips previsouly told the Hay literary festival that “like all institutions it’s a bit sexist, innit”.