Has karma finally arrived for Starmer MP Jess Phillips?

Right, so Jess Phillips, the MP caught on camera laughing about the fact her own party were going to lose the 2019 General Election might have felt like the cat that got the cream back then, but she’s not laughing now as the campaign behind Workers Party of Britain candidate Jody McIntyre has just been given a massive boost. Phillips was already fighting an uphill battle in one of the most Muslim dominant constituencies in the country as a result of Keir Starmer’s position on Israel and Gaza and his support for war crimes, which he still denies saying despite having said in a filmed interview, resulting in a massive loss of yes, Muslim voters that traditionally back Labour, but equally voters of all other demographics as well. The combination of these two issues, means get rid of an MP who spends her time on social media seemingly talking about nothing but herself, who cheered her own party losing last time out, just got a whole lot easier, a lot more likely and you could therefore say karma has finally come for her.
Right, so Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, a favourite of the mainstream media which in no small part is what she is largely known for, it certainly isn’t her achievements in parliament, which are particularly thin on the ground, in fact her Wikipedia page, if you care to give it a scan, seemingly consists of nothing but the controversy she courts in the British media and her social media seems to consist of little other than talking about herself. But she’s now looking like she’s in the fight of her life to just remain an MP, where once upon a time she actually harboured delusions of leading the party.
On one hand, she has a problem many other Labour MPs share, which is that they owe their majorities and their seats to not insignificant numbers of Muslim voters, voters who like many of the rest of us, but as a demographic notably, have been horrified by the position of Labour under Keir Starmer on the matter of Israel and Gaza, Palestinians being majority Muslims too, Starmer having said Israel has the right to cut off power cut off food and having never apologised for it, just denied ever saying it, demonstrates on one hand a man who is a consummate liar who cannot acknowledge their own personal failings, or the hurt caused by that, but on another exemplifies the hierarchy of racism reported to be happening in the Labour Party, disproportionate numbers of ethnic minority candidates having been targeted for deselection and replacement and of particular note in the media since the election was called has been the treatment of Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen, Abbott having been reselected finally to stand for Labour, though quite why she wanted to be baffles me and Shaheen, a pro Palestine supporter, seemingly punished for that, after being replaced by a Luke Akehurst lackey and fellow Zionist from the Labour To Win right wing Labour faction, has now quit the Labour Party and announced she’s standing as an Independent for the seat she’s been building up for Labour for the last 4 years. As the known local face, I wish her the best of luck in what will be another uphill climb.
As far as Jess Phillips goes though, according to the 2012 census, her seat of Birmingham Yardley is the 12th most Muslim constituency in the country, with 35.4% of the population, over 1 in 3 identifying as Muslim, so that is a massive amount of votes to lose and with a majority of 10,659, down by around a third from 2017 at the height of Corbyn’s leadership, but still up interestingly enough, from what she got in 2015 when she became an MP, having taken the seat from the Lib Dems. So a decent Labour leader does appear to be reflected in the results that Phillips has enjoyed and as much as this election is about getting the Tories out, the Tories haven’t held Birmingham Yardley since 1987, so that isn’t really the focus here at all, it’s a Labour defence, being defended when many of the voters there, Muslim and non Muslim alike are affronted and offended by the party their MP represents. In fact such an issue is this for Labour, that despite a not insignificant majority of 10,659, it is being listed as a battleground seat by the Labour Party website, because Labour, as much as they might be looking at taking seats off the Tories, are looking like they may well lose seats they already hold at the same time and when you consider they’ve been out of power for 14 years and the Tories are now so corrupt, so rancid, so awful, it really does speak volumes of how little faith many people, especially in these Muslim populous areas, have in Keir Starmer.
The thing is, Phillips knows it too, has known for some time, as she resigned last November from the only frontbench role she had ever held, the Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence & Safeguarding, over Starmer’s refusal to back a formal ceasefire and not just opt for humanitarian pauses so some aid could get in before the resumption of atrocities. Being from very much the same right wing of the Labour Party as Starmer this was widely viewed, blatantly seen as Phillips thinking it is no good being a potential Minister in government if I lose my seat trying to get there and again this emphasises the influence of Muslim voters in her constituency who she knows she cannot afford to lose and if she does, will only have herself and Starmer to blame. At least you kept your seat under Corbyn, whilst you laughed about the Tories winning another 5 years under Boris Johson though eh?
Not only that, but Phillips, despite all denials, appears to have been exposed as being a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel and continuing to be a Labour Friend of Israel in effect, since none of those MPs have reneged on their support from LFI at any point since atrocities began in Gaza, or have done so going into this election. In fact Labour Friends of Israel have removed their supporters list of parliamentary MPs going into this election, to try and shield them from being singled out over it, however the Electronic Intifada new site has rumbled them, not least Phillips herself:
‘LFI is proud to be supported by Labour parliamentarians in the UK parliament, Scottish parliament, Welsh Senedd and local government who support our values and aims,” the list began.
The list certainly includes Phillips, who appears to have been a supporter of the Israel lobby group for many years.
As recently as October she was described in a Labour Friends of Israel Twitter posting as “LFI parliamentary supporter @jessphillips.” LFI also posted a clip of Phillips in Parliament calling for supporters of Palestinian resistance to face “the full force of the law.”
She played a big part in fanning the flames of the fake “Labour anti-Semitism” smear campaign, which was designed by Israel and its lobby to remove Corbyn, a Palestine solidarity activist.’
So far, so many reasons for Jess Phillips to be in a lot of bother with her constituents, but as of yesterday, things just took a dramatic turn for the worse for Phillips.
Last night it was announced by Workers Party of Britain candidate for Birmingham Yardley, Jody McIntyre, that all Independent candidates who had put themselves forward to stand in the seat, were now going to stand aside for McIntyre, giving him a clear run at Phillips, himself a Muslim, himself a pro Palestine activist – he actually lived in Gaza for a time there - going up against Phillips the LFI supporter at a time when Muslim voters are deserting Labour in their droves. It simply isn’t the case that Muslim voters have nowhere else to go in Birmingham Yardley, or anyone else equally disgusted by Labour’s stance on Gaza, or indeed Phillips’ perceived opportunism, voting against her own party on a Gaza ceasefire, against her own faction in effect, because she feared for her seat then and fears for it even more now and that allegation of opportunism gives rise to hypocrisy, according to an incident alleged by Jody McIntyre on his social media earlier, where he said:
‘I’ve just received a message from a supporter of mine who had Jess Phillips knocking at her door yesterday. When the constituent mentioned that she would be voting for me instead, Phillips called me an “opportunist”. I first lived in Gaza in 2009 and have campaigned for the rights of the Palestinians ever since. Phillips is a Labour Friend of Israel trying to conceal that fact to secure votes. I’ll let you decide who the opportunist is.’
Well he’s not wrong and if Phillips is verbally slagging off her opponent in such a manner, it not only believes her real fear that she’s going to lose her seat, but also that democracy terrifies her just as much. Indeed let the public decide who the opportunist is.
McIntyre has been a pro Palestine campaigner for years, footage from several years ago first brought Jody McIntyre to public attention when the police, at one such demonstration, dragged him from his wheelchair and across the street in an appalling act of brutality, where they alleged this was done for his own safety, making the entire thing all the more a disgrace, the footage still readily available on social media.
McIntyre would, aside from this key election issue, whether you agree it should be or not is by the by, the actions of both main parties have made it so for a lot of people, be a brilliant and sorely underrepresented voice for disabled people in parliament, their rights, so severely trampled all over need to be highlighted and as an unpaid carer myself, we desperately need more MPs like this, and far, far fewer like Jess Phillips. I wish Jody the very best of luck, I’m delighted that so many, even formerly rival candidates are now swinging behind him.
I made a more detailed video on Jody McIntyre in this video recommendation here, truly fascinating guy, would make a belting MP worthy of the privilege of being one and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.