Michelle mone

Labour’s deputy divisions: insider vs outsider?

14 min listen

Tim Shipman and Claire Ainsley from the Progressive Policy Institute join Patrick Gibbons to reflect on Labour’s party conference as it draws to a close in Liverpool. This conference has been received positively for Labour but, on the final day, a hustings for the deputy leadership demonstrated that divides remain under the surface. Is Lucy Powell versus Bridget Phillipson a case of left versus right in the party, or is it more about the outsider versus the insider? And, as a leading political commentator declares Labour to now be the ‘party of the professional middle class’, what does the contest tell us about who Labour needs to appeal to? Produced

Baroness bra quits the Lords (for now)

Farewell and thanks for the mammaries, Michelle Mone. The lingerie tycoon has today announced that she will be seeking a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect. It means she will not attend sittings of the House, vote on any proceedings nor be able to claim any allowance. At 51, she ought to have years of such joys ahead of her – but fate, and the Guardian newspaper, intervened. According to a spokesman: With immediate effect, Baroness Mone will be taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her.