Out candidates fail to be elected Labour’s deputy leader
MPs Angela Eagle and Ben Bradshaw have failed in their respective bids to be elected as Labour’s deputy leader.
Labour’s Deputy Leader Harriet Harman is standing down from the party leadership alongside former leader Ed Miliband, following a crushing defeat in May’s General Election.
Angela Eagle, one of the few out lesbians in Parliament, put herself in the running to replace Ms Harman, as did gay former Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw.
However, neither of the pair were elected as Deputy Leader – with MP Tom Watson today succeeding in his bid. Stella Creasy came second, and Caroline Flint third.
Out of an electorate of over 500,000, Mr Bradshaw was eliminated in the first round of voting with just 39,080 votes. Ms Eagle was eliminated in the second round, with 72,517 votes.
Mr Watson was elected with 50.7% of the vote in the third round.
Mr Bradshaw caused a stir at the PinkNews Awards last year – when he heckled Minister for Women and Equalities Nicky Morgan.
The Labour MP defended shouting at the Tory minister for voting against same-sex marriage, claiming “she was lucky not to be heckled twice”.
Speaking to PinkNews previously, Ms Eagle hit out at the government’s “daft” and “ignorant” approach to LGBT asylum issues.
She said: “There are some daft decisions in terms of how they decide whether you are gay or not, which are about ignorance about what being gay actually is.
“That’s why we want a review to check how we can do this properly, in a way that is respectful and accurate.”
“We need to come up with a structure that works better than that old caricature that, for example, says that if you are a lesbian you can’t have children… I mean how ignorant is that?”
Left-winger Jeremy Corbyn is expected to be elected as the party’s leader. Mr Corbyn was one of the first MPs in Parliament to vote in favour of LGBT rights -but has faced scrutiny about his links with homophobic groups overseas.
