Of all the political firebrands
unsettling parliament in
2019, I’ll say this for Jess
Phillips: she is far and away
the most hilarious. We’ve been sitting
in her poky green-carpeted office in
Portcullis House for the best part of two
hours, during which she’s put on thrilling
displays of ambition (“I wouldn’t say
I came here to become leader of the
Labour Party, but when I got here,
I thought, ‘Yeah, why not?’”), extolled
the patriarchy-smashing virtues of a
decent set of hoops (“Big gold earrings?
Don’t take me on...”), and dropped
the F-bomb at least two dozen times.
All this is punctuated by moments of
such genuine comedy, such surreal
bouts of what can only be described as
“top banter” – offered between peals
of laughter and puffs on her vape –
that you feel as though you’re not in
Westminster at all.
At one point, with tears of laughter
in her eyes, the Honourable Member
for Birmingham Yardley is halfway
through an anecdote about how her
WhatsApp group of close friends
decided that, should her vagina ever
be the lead character in a Pixar film, it
should be voiced by Miriam Margolyes,
and the penny drops. It isn’t just that
Phillips is funny and seemingly honest,
it is that her naturalness – believing
what she says and then saying it
unfiltered – is redrawing the parameters
of how politicians can be. Needless to
say, it’s a stance that charms some and
infuriates others. A mother of two >Jess Phillips MP in
her bedroom at home
in Birmingham.
Hair: Yumi Nakada-
Dingle. Make-up:
Laura DominiqueVOT EOFCONFIDENCEStaunch values and a no-nonsense
wit have made Jess Phillips
Westminster’s breakout star. Giles
Hattersley meets an MP on the rise.
Photographs by Nigel Shafran17308-19-WellJessPhilips.indd 173 10/06/2019 13:37