Meeting Yvette Cooper MP

We attended the Yvette Cooper MP leadership roadshow, at the in Colchester Arts Centre and were then interviewed by BBC Radio journalist, Paul Moss.  

Yvette came across as a very polished speaker. As one who was trained in speech and drama at a young age, it appeared she has been coached professionally in that department? Yvette peppered her speech with ‘parables’ and perhaps the most shocking one was; that women who are raped who have a third child as a result, have to take their evidence of the crime, to the ‘benefits agency’ to claim child benefit. It raised a gasp from the crowd but these anomalies crop up all over the place with the DWP, and although its a great story, Jobcentre Plaus and the DWP can, on occasions, be very sympathetic to indervidual cases.  

Yvette wants to see two million science and technology jobs created, echoed today by inventor James Dyson, whom it must be said, shipped much of his production to Malaysia after writing a report for the government on improving Britain’s competitiveness.

Yvette also wants to see wages for the likes of care workers increase. As she pointed out, social cleansing in London means that elderly people to have to pay for services their family’s might provide free-gratis. A very good point.

There was much talk about the NHS, and one of the audience described the General Medical Council in very unflattering terms. Another pointed out that the Labour Party had taken eighteen months to oppose the Bedroom Tax. 'Here, Here' we thought - New Labour had looked the other way, too concerned about their image with voters to speak up.  

The ABC's Simon Collyer meets Yvette Cooper MP Shadow Home Secretary

Yvette talked much about the governments ideological 40% cuts in services and that included community policing.

She also talked about the government scrapping the targets relating to child poverty which have long been suspect anyway. There was a good discussion about mental health in children. That came as a suprise. 

I liked Yvette’s reference to Hillary Clinton who has been talking about business ‘short-termism’ and ‘Quarterly Capitalism’.

Yvette has robust ideas about allowing in 10,000 asylum seekers - as opposed to economic migrants - and she talked of the Labour Party's internationalism in relation to the ‘boat people’ landing in places like Greece.

There was much focus on Green issues and a forth coming Paris conference.

What was not touched was benefit sanctions or claimant deaths, and rather more controversial aspects of the welfare state. 

Unlike Jeremy Corbyn, Yvette is more a of a ‘hawk’ when it comes to managing the economy.  No printing of money to pay for expansion of the welfare state one feels.

Yvette was educated at Eggar's School, a comprehensive school in Holybourne, and Alton College, both in Alton, Hampshire. She read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, and graduated with a first-class honours degree. She won a Kennedy Scholarship in 1991 to study at Harvard University, and she completed her post-graduate studies with an MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics.

Overall Yvette comes across as very bright and returned most of the ‘friendly’ questions with the skill of a professional tennis player warming up. Her father was a trade unionist and she has strong values in regard to human and civil rights, especially for women for whom she is a strong advocate.

She came across as a consensus politician, perhaps a little too polished on the presentation front. Yvette would make a very able Home Secretary, but for me she is not quite ‘gutsy’ enough for the top job. A bit too sensible perhaps? 

As I said to the BBC interviewer, ‘she is a consensus politician, whereas Jeremy Corbyn  could not give a toss’. She is perhaps simply too nice to go up against Ian Duncan Smith, George Osborn and David Cameron.  The country needs a ‘Tiger’ to stand up against the Tories, the policies from the Labour Party can come later. That to me seems to be the mood of the hour. 

Yvette made a joke at the beginning about all the leadership race leaders getting on to well. You feel they want to win, but not so badly they are willing to tip themselves out if the bed.

Yvette came to Colchester, and in a swirl and she and her entourage had gone just as fast. We wish Yvette well - she has a good heart, and she wants to do the right thing. She is very capable, highly intelligent, but sensible rather than charismatic.   It has been the blandness of modern politics that has put people off voting. Jeremy Corbyn, is leading the army of the dispossessed. Yvette is playing the middle of the court. Will Yvette's common sense prevail over Corbyn's charisma - we will have to wait and see? 

Simon Collyer may feature on BBC Radio 4 'The World Tonight' after giving my comparison with Jeremy Corbyn to BBC journalist; Paul Moss. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtl3

Paul Moss began his career in the Midlands, working in Birmingham, and then serving as Penzance Correspondent for Westcountry Television. He came to BBC Radio Four in 1997, as a reporter for World at One and PM, and then moved to The World Tonight three years later. Since then he has broadcast from all around the world, including extensive reporting on the conflict in the Middle East and from the United States, where he covered the aftermath of September 11th, as well as the political and cultural developments that followed.In 2006, Paul won the Foreign Press Association's award for Environment Story of the Year for his reports on the environmental impact of India's economic growth.Long before he began travelling for work, Paul spent much of his life hauling a backpack around various parts of the world. He still travels for pleasure when he can, and has written for the BBC's News website as well as The Guardian, New Statesman and The Erotic Review.You can follow Paul on Twitter @bbcpaulmoss