yes sirree Chris it's a Friday night
we're in the center of Manchester a town
known for having a pretty good night
like where else better to be now the
launch of a Labour leadership candidate
well a couple of hundred people here
seem to think that Rebecca long Bezos is
the hottest ticket in town
Emily Thornbury also launched her
campaign through both and putting out
their pitches however as is often the
case with these sorts of races what
they're finding out today is that the
story of the day the story that over
Sarah Singh isn't what was said today
but things that were said in the past
that have suddenly come out and that's
precisely what Rebecca long Bailey has
discovered today the race for the Labour
leadership is heating up this weekend
the five candidates will go head-to-head
in the first hustings of the campaign a
crucial moment and there are already
accusations of dirty tricks Rebecca long
Bailey's official campaign launched
tonight was seen by some as a reset an
opportunity to try and project a more
optimistic image instead it's been
overshadowed after comments she made
about abortion during last December's
general election campaign have
resurfaced
miss long bailey who was a catholic a
bitter suggests a threshold for abortion
on the grounds of disability should be
changed when asked by representatives of
suffered catholic cathedral
she said it is currently legal to
terminate a pregnancy up to full term on
the grounds of disability while the
upper limit is 24 weeks if there is no
disability I personally do not agree
with this position and agree with the
words of the Disability Rights
Commission that the context in which
parents choose whether to have a child
should be one in which disability and
non disability are valued equally long
bailey spokesperson said it was a
personal view not a policy position and
that she quote supports a woman's right
to choose but it's led to the other
candidate speaking out on the issue the
shadow foreign secretary who's also
launching her leadership campaign
tonight in her home town of guilford
highlighted her support for abortion to
be decriminalized in northern ireland as
part of her pitch to be party leader so
coming into Parliament 15 years ago I've
again been on the frontline in the
fights against the climate emergency
Universal Credit the anti-abortion laws
in Northern Ireland I've led the charge
as foreign secretary foreign secretary
against Donald Trump in the war in Yemen
and the two years that I shadowed Boris
Johnson as foreign secretary I showed up
and every time I showed him up to be the
lying reckless charlatan that he is yeah
yes Phillips who has a long track record
of campaigning on abortion Ward against
policy based on religious views a
person's personal political itical
journey should be about the people in
their country and their religious views
absolutely are welcomed they are about
their own personal decisions and should
not enter into how we legislate for
everybody in a country while long bailey
was having to clarify her position her
main leadership rival sakir stahma
campaigning in York she echoed the other
candidates I think the law on abortion
needs to be changed it's been in place
for many many years and I don't think
women should be criminalized for seeking
an abortion so I want to see this
reviewed and changed and I want this
seen as a health issue not a criminal
law issue a new poll of party members
tonight suggests Rebecca long Bailey has
fallen further behind stahma in the
leadership race for her team tonight
speech where she'll attack the quote
gentlemen's club of politics can't come
soon enough
well according to a new poll out tonight
the person they're all waiting for
Rebecca long bailey is one of the front
runners but in second place a YouGov
poll for the times has kissed armored
polling at 63% Rebecca long Bailey at
37% it might be a bit early to write
Rebecca long Bailey off just yet this is
a long campaign 11 weeks there are a
dozen hustings and the labor membership
tend to change their mind based on those
hustings I spoke to Rebecca lone Bailey
a little bit earlier on Astro met her
chances of success but I asked they
started by asking her to clarify her
position on abortion I own equivocally
support a woman's right to choose and
all of the policies in the last labor
manifesto and it's been pretty grubby 24
hours if I'm honest the limit at the
moment is 24 weeks but for disabled
children for situations where the mother
might be in danger and do you support
that I do indeed and the point I was
making to my constituents was that there
were comments that were made by the
disability rights commission about
concerns that the way the disabled
community would feel and how that this
was portrayed and those views need to be
taken into account but certainly I
wasn't by no means suggesting that we
need to restrict our abortion laws
further so where do you think these
hacks have been coming from does it feel
like this has been weaponized against
you well I mean I wouldn't like to
allude so to any Machiavellian plans
they've been going on but it has read a
review like that it's been quite
suspicious yeah they've been certain new
sources that have perpetrated this
misrepresentation over the last 24 hours
but do you think there's a possibility
there might be one of the other camps it
I'm not I'm not saying that at all I'm
not saying that at all you gave Jeremy
Corbyn a ten out of ten for his
performance you've been a central figure
of the Labour leadership over the last
few years the leadership then lated the
past that led the party to one of its
worst to its worst result in decades why
would you be a good person to now lead
the path while I was asked about what I
thought of Jeremy and I always supported
Jeremy because he was a decent honorable
kind man and he was different from any
politician that we'd ever seen before
we can't ignore the fact that we've had
the most devastating defeat we've got to
understand that we didn't have a clear
message that resonated with our voters
we've got to understand that brexit was
an issue that we just weren't trusted on
due to our compromised position and
we've got to understand on issues such
as anti-semitism we weren't trusted to
be taking the right action you mentioned
the compromised position there you've
criticized that in the past
tonight you're criticizing the the
gentlemen's club of politics this all
sounds like a not so veiled attack on
the only gentlemen is in the race and
the person who was behind your brakes
for tea circus Tom I toll no I'm talking
about a democratic revolution and the
interesting thing to take from the
brexit debate was that we talked a lot
and heard from our communities about how
they were angry at how laws and rules
would be made in Brussels but
unfortunately they've been exactly the
same way about Westminster it's detached
for many of our communities but you know
anything to care summaries part of that
gentleman Scott not at all I'm not
saying that well what I am saying is
that it's wrong to have a second tier
within our legal system that's made up
of unelected representatives who were
there for life essentially we need to
represent our communities and they need
to be democratically elected do you
think the next leader needs to be a
female I think the next female leader
needs to be northern certainly and needs
to be female you think the next it needs
to be female certainly certainly do at
the weekend Jeremy Corbyn described the
incident in Tehran where a hundred and
seventy-six people were killed due to an
Iranian missile he called it a crash
what's he wrong to use that phrase it's
devastating violence and war in any part
of the world whoever perpetrates it is
wrong and we have a role here in the
would you have called it a crash I think
it was devastating but would you have
called it a crash I've called it a crash
purse the Jeremy Corbyn was wrong to
call it cause it was wrong that's his
personal opinion but it's not certainly
something that I would have said lastly
some Labour Party MPs have described you
as shy the last leader that's described
as shy was Theresa May that's a worry
I'm not shy I've certainly been
hard-working and stuck in my office
developing many of our policies over
last four years but shy is not something
that I've ever been called I don't think
my husband would say I was shy well
Emily Thornbury joins us now from
Guildford where she's just been
launching her campaign good evening
there are four women standing in this
leadership election and in tonight's
poll it is sakir stahma the man who is
way out in front do you think that's
just to do with talent or could there be
some sexism as well I think that the
campaign that he just started may don't
start writing us off you know this is
going to be a three month long campaign
and what we need to do is see people at
at the hustings
and will be put through our metal and
the members will in the end decide and
these are very early stages and you know
there's a reason why it's a three-month
campaign you've got half a million
members to reach let's see what happens
but should gender be an issue at all
should anybody cast their votes thinking
it would be better to have a woman than
a man I think that people should vote
for the best candidate and the good news
is mate is that the best candidate is a
woman that's well that's you well but
you're on 3% Sinai's at the bottom well
as I say I've only just launched my
campaign come on give him give me a
minute okay no no no what we need to be
able to do is we need to be able to look
at who the candidates are put them
through their metal I believe that I
have the experience I've been in
Parliament 15 years I come from the
heart of the party I've been I've been a
member for 40 years
I've done seven frontbench jobs I think
I have the I have the experience I have
the requisite skills and I have the
passion to to lead our party to make
sure that we win in five years time
that's what people want yeah and that's
what people need but you're mentioning
your experience crying out for an
alternative to this terrible terrible
government you you are the most
experienced candidates in the field
Sakhi asam has only got a few years of
political experience by comparison as
has Rebecca long barely there than two
frontrunners I mean do you think they
are up to it in terms of experience
I think that it's probably important for
people to look at whether or not you
have battle-hardened candidates I'm
certainly battle-hardened and and that's
an advantage that I have you know the
bottom and top of it is is that by
putting yourself forward to become
leader of the Labour Party when we're in
opposition it's frankly the worst job in
the world
we know that the media are obviously
yourself being in an exception but you
know but but the but the media as a
whole will be antagonistic towards a
labor leader they will try and cut us
off at the knees I am the finished
article people know who I am they know
everything about me and you know they I
mean you know penned up skeletons in my
cupboard and I have been put under
pressure and and I got through it well I
wonder if your loyalty to past leaders
is a bit of a weakness because you were
loyal to Tony Blair you were loyal to
Gordon Brown you were loyal to Ed
Miliband and you were loyal to Jeremy
Corbyn you can't have agreed with them
all so what do you really believe well I
stand in that spectrum okay okay
so you hang on a minute right so I had
been elected for two months when we had
the terrible seven seven attacks and
said 13 people from my constituency were
killed and Tony Blair's response to that
was to try to introduce 90 days
internally without trial and I didn't
believe in that I was a proud new MP for
the Labour Party I didn't want to take
on the prime minister but I had to
because he was wrong and and I and I was
one of the leaders of that campaign and
we won we stopped with our country going
down a path whereby we could arrest and
hold someone for three months without
any evidence so you know I had
differences with Tony Blair I also had
the difference with with Gordon Brown in
relation when he tried to infuse 40 days
internment without any evidence so when
I have differed I have made it clear but
when I am part of a collective when I'm
in a Shadow Cabinet we have to have
collective responsibility I believe in
that strongly and so yes of course I
will do everything that I was a lawn
ordinary leader the best leader that he
could be what about the economy I mean
do you think that labor was wrong on the
economy at the last election on things
like nationalization Novak's all of
those sorts of issues
I can't look at any particular item
which is in the manifesto and say that
was wrong the problem that we had
frankly was that there was too much in
it I had had the experience of going to
Australia where I thought that I was
going to meet the Labour government in
Australia but instead I met a Labour
Party that was in mourning and shocked
the way that we're in mourning and shock
now and they had the same they had made
the same mistake which was that they had
too much in their manifesto they
confused the public and it wasn't clear
what words would you draw it they'd done
it in Australia right which bits would
you have drawn and so what I would so
what I think we should have done was we
should have been clear about you know I
don't want to go back to the 1990s
apart from winning elections and what
are the ways in which we've won
elections was to be clear about what our
priorities were and the way that you do
that is that you have discussions with
the public you discuss the big issues
are of the time and then you find a
solution to it and you present it in
that way
what up one of our problems was was that
we had four or five different
announcements going on a day and the
public were completely confused let
alone our poor activists who were out on
the doorstep in the winds and the rain
and the dark trying to explain what you
got wrong I mean you can't just say we
had too many things that were right well
that's what I'm saying actually that's
what I'm saying what I'm saying is that
our manifesto what what our manifesto
had in it was a frankly a 15 year
program and it was too much you know
what we needed to do was to say this is
what it's all giggle comes back to this
right we need to be a credible
alternative government we need when we
are talking to the public to be able to
say there is another way it doesn't have
to be like this but in order for people
to believe that there's another way they
have to believe in us so we have to put
forward a program which is credible and
believable and costed and has clear
priorities that's what we need to do so
looking forward which is what we should
be doing we need to be looking forward
to looking at what our priorities
therefore ought to be and and and that
will depend on obviously on
circumstances on how bad brexit is what
happens to our economy afterwards you
know so that we need to be there to be
taking the fight to the Tor under you as
we know that we have a clear
relationship under you as leader let me
ask you something specific
under you under you as leader is it
conceivable that labor could lead a
campaign to rejoin the European Union no
I'm afraid not because I think that
we're leaving at the end of January and
the truth is legally and
constitutionally we're gonna be out the
important fight though is this half of
our traders with Europe you know many
jobs depend and our economy depends on
having a close relationship with Europe
Boris Johnson says that he can get a
trade deal done by the end of the year
nobody believes him and frankly I don't
think he cares he has his majority now
he's won his election you know it was a
mistake for us to agree to a general
election on one simple issue and think
that we could change the subject we
weren't able to he wrapped himself up in
a lie and said that he could leave we
will be technically leaving but we won't
have our continuing relationship with
Europe sorted out and what we can't
allow to happen is that we end up with
no deal at the end of the pier because
that will be a disaster for our country
emilie formally thank you very much
indeed