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Bridget Phillipson

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2024-06-16
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2024-06-16
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  1. “Oh, I think we go back to our kind of class-based discussion where we. Where we began the structural inequality that people experience is what I would say.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Know is the answer, and I will try to address this. The question is actually that are toughest. I do a lot of school visits. Actually, the questions that kids will ask you are usually far more to the point. And there's a directness and a simplicity because they're not worrying about how does this sound or can I really ask that? And they're the hardest questions to answer. Just why is there poverty in the world or, you know, why is it that you will shout at each other in Parliament, whatever it might be? Actually, you know, spending a lot of time around children and young people, as I do, genuinely that is often a lot tougher than some of the more kind of traditional political questions that you would get where you can kind of weave your way through it a bit if you want to.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “We'll have an expert led review of curriculum assessment overall. I think there is a real issue around creativity in our state schools and the lack of access that state school students have to music, sport, art and drama. I don't think that should be the preserve of just those whose parents can afford to pay for extras on a weekend or after school and I want to make that a really important part.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “So, what I would say about Michael Gove in particular was that he brought a real sense of drive and determination. He was clear about what he wanted to do right from the outset. He got on with it and he made it happen. And there is a lesson in that, I believe. They also took the evidence of what was working and developed it further. So the Conservatives will talk a lot about the rollout of phonics across schools. Absolutely. And I've had this conversation with Nick Gibb as well and gently pointed out that it was under Labour that we first started that they then continued it. I think that does show the benefit of continuity of policy making in areas such as education. Another example I would give would be it was the Conservatives who brought in a national curriculum. That's, I think, was a fine development. I believe we need to reform the curriculum that we've got at the moment. But there are areas, I think, where continuity across education policymaking is important. There are changes that I would want to make, however, if I were education secretary. But that sense of focus and drive, I think Michael brought education far more central to the work.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “We'll find out soon enough, I guess. I think there is a recognition that Kia has turned the Labour Party around and we're back to where we need to be in line with their priorities. But again, for people that have moved away from us and have then come back, we can't take that for granted. And we have to demonstrate that we're going to hold to what we have promised.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “I mean, there was some of it there, I would say, in 2015, but it massively accelerated. 2017 was a funny election in lots of different ways. It came up then, but not to the same degree. By 2019. People had made their minds up about where the Labour Party was, and they didn't much like it. And it was for a lot of people, that was a really upsetting experience. You know, I would speak to people on doors who would be really upset, genuinely upset. About the fact they didn't feel they could support a party that they had supported all of their lives. Some of those people did vote conservative, some people just stayed at home.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Examples would be particularly around national security. They felt that they were concerned as to whether we would keep the country safe.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “They felt that the Labour Party was out of step with their priorities. It wasn't the party that had been the party their family had voted for traditionally.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Combination of factors. I mean, Boris Johnson was an unusual politician in many ways and had a charismatic appeal. I think it would be undeniable to lose sight of that. Jeremy Corbyn was a big factor, really big factor. Brexit came into it, but far less so than Jeremy Corbyn. I mean, some of it was a vote for Boris Johnson. Some of it was a vote against where the Labour Party had got to. And there was an awful lot of despair amongst traditional Labour voters who felt that we'd turned our backs on them and it wasn't the Labour Party that they'd voted for in the past. But they were the people who, after Partygate in particular, felt the most betrayed and most let down because they'd, for the first time in their lives, had put their trust in the Conservative Party and just felt it was a slap in the face. And that was the moment. I think it happened more quickly than people noticed.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “There is a volatility, and there's certainly a volatility in terms of people's voting behaviour. If labour managers to win this general election, that will be a massive turnaround from 2019 that was in and of itself a big shift. So I think that shows that what can swing can swing against you. And I think people are less fixed in terms of how they will vote and party allegiance than would have been the case in the past. So if we form that next government, demonstrating very quickly that we have earned people's trust and are delivering will be absolutely crucial.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Think the trends that we see are alarming and not least where it comes to Russia, Ukraine and the impact that's had here and the fact that we have been so exposed. I mean, that's had wider kind of domestic consequences arising out of international considerations. But it's also why it's essential that we have a more stable government here in the UK. I think we can and should be a bigger player in some of this, even outside of the European Union. I think there is a rule for Britain in that. Well, you know, we're a natal member, we have influence around the world. Our kind of soft power, as you will know, where it comes to the numbers of people that will come and study here, for example, and then return home, I think we have a reach around the world that we need to understand, but that we need to be careful we don't limit.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “I think it's complex. I think there are different drivers, and part of it is a good thing. People start work later in their lives than would have been the case 100 years ago. People do live longer as well alongside that, which is wonderful, but brings with it challenges that we need to respond to as well.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “No, I think it's about the wider conditions that allow people to make choices. I think it's largely economic imperative that's driving some of that decision making at the moment. And we need to take action, for example, on insecure housing, on the fact that lots of people can't afford to buy a home, other homes aren't there, and the cost of childcare. I mean, all of these are drivers, I think, that are pushing people to make decisions about either deferring having a family or limiting family size. And that's to the point about choice and the rule for government in giving people a greater degree of control over how they live their lives.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “But at the same time, I speak to too many people across the country who tell me they would have loved to have another child with they just couldn't afford it. And I think that's where government can come in in terms of responding to what is of challenges.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “I think there is a, for example, I think there is a really big, and this is happening kind of across the Western world, it's happening here too, about the falling birth rate in our country. There are lots of reasons for that. I'm not suggesting it's straightforward. I think it's a complex issue. Other countries, as I say, are grappling with this. But because housing costs are so high, because the costs of childcare are so high, because work isn't as secure as it should be, I believe, because the safety net that a lot of people have depended upon around social security isn't there in the way that it was. I believe that people are making decisions about family size, driven by economic circumstance to a much greater degree than was the case previously. And that does have consequences in the long term for our country. Now, that's not for me about politicians saying to people you should have a family of whatever size. I personally believe that family should be a broad concept in which we value a range of different kind of structures. I come from what people would have in the past called a non-traditional family. But for me, it's about the love that families give, not the size or shape.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “I don't doubt for one second that there are big global challenges and that there are structural challenges that we face as a country. I don't question that for one second, but I think that the risk with that argument is that you can get to a place where you're almost deny kind of agency to your own government in shaping some of that. And I do think there is more that we could do to shape some of that, whether that's demography, as you were talking about there, or skills policy.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “So, firstly, I think the problems have become particularly acute in the last three to five years because we've had a party I don't think that's been actually focused on governing or making good decisions. That's not to say what I would regard what came before as being particularly wonderful, but it's been most acute in recent years. And I think it's left our country weakened. It's led to, frankly, you travel internationally. I've been able to travel a bit in terms of looking at other countries' education systems. People just say, what on earth are you lot doing and what on earth's been going on in Britain? And I'm proud of our country, but I wanted to be able to, you know, be prouder still. And it hasn't felt that way in recent years. But I think you do have to look back. If you've been in government for 14 years, I would just think that's quite a long time to make your mark, to set the country in the direction that you would wish. And if you look back after such a period of time and think, is the country in better shape than which we found it?”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “No, I think it goes to that point about trust in politics. And I think people's trust in politics and politicians to actually get things done and make a difference isn't great at the moment. And I spend a lot of time just having to be quite upfront about both the scale of the challenge and how we will fix it and the time it will take if we form that next government. And that's why I think Kiera is right to talk about a decade of national renewal because the problems that have built up over the last 14 years will not be solved overnight. And I wish that I could kind of wave a magic wand and sort it all. But I do think we have to level with the public because I think were we to make kind of grandiose promises, I don't think one I don't think people would buy it and two, I think it would be fundamentally corrosive to trust in politics.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “It is some different dynamics going on. You get a lot of people saying everything is so broken, how on earth are any of you going to fix that? That is a really big issue. And I think there is a fundamental question of demonstrating that politics can be a force for good and governments can actually change things when it just feels that at the moment nothing works.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Campaign Because with the greatest respect, I'm actually not that interested in that, which is why I'm just taking it to getting out around the country, because that's the bit I love. You know, we've been wanting this election for so long. Now we've got it. I'm just enjoying the opportunity to actually persuade people to vote Labour.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Man, it's you know, this will be my fifth general election as a candidate, the first time I've been in the shadow cabinet for a general election. So it's different on lots of levels for me personally. What I really love about it is just the chance to get out around the country.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “While I was Rachel's shadow chief secretary as well, so it was my job to go around telling people and they weren't allowed to spend anything. So I've got to practice what I preach.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Yeah, absolutely. Was shown to be not just cost effective but to save the NHS money, for example, and to lead to better outcomes. So you”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Sadly, the economy is in a total mess and it will take us time to rebuild. And there'll be lots that's in the manifesto around education. But in this area, I only want to make commitments that I am absolutely confident that we can”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “There was a bit less of the tailoring to local circumstances than had been the case in the earlier phases. So for me, the lesson from that is you have to strike the balance between the kind of core services you would want any Showstart Centre to provide plus where's the ability for communities to shape what goes on within the centre.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “The program evolved over time, and there did become more of a focus on supporting people into Work2, which I absolutely think is the right thing to do. And the part about Sure Start that I think that's often overlooked is the impact it had in terms of people's ability to get involved in volunteering, get back into training and education. But it became a bigger programme with less of a focus on involving families. And the lesson I would take.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “About nutrition, about sleeping, about health visitors can do so in a way that isn't necessarily just the heavy hand of the state being intrusive in people's lives. And it can feel sometimes intrusive to families.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “So it changed in nature and scope over time. It had different purposes at different points. The initial phase, and this is the phase I remember well because I was in Sunderland at that point and was latterly involved in some of the work that the Show Start Centres were doing. What made it really effective was that it engaged families and communities more actively in the delivery of services and in the shape and design of services. So just to give one very small example, but I think is instructive. Lots of dads wanted Saturday morning activities, for example. The professionals involved in delivering those services probably would have never thought let's open up on a Saturday morning, but the dads were saying, look, we're working during the week. We want to be able to access services on a Saturday. The other thing that families really wanted was a safe indoor play space. They wanted some kind of soft play because they often didn't have gardens, didn't have safe outdoor spaces. By listening to parents and families, responding to what they're telling us, and using that as the basis for shaping services so that you can engage people. If people are coming to use that soft play, then you can have a conversation.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “Do you need to find a way of bringing together family services in terms of the wider support that families need, absolutely. But you'll recall that it was a policy that we announced from government in 1998, not a policy that we'd committed to ahead of an election. But I am really struck by the emerging evidence, including reports that have just been published this year from the IFS, for example, that show not only did Shua start cut hospital admissions and save money for the NHS, it also led to an improvement in terms of outcomes and grades for young people who were able to benefit from a SURE start centre. One caveat I would say is that it does demonstrate, however, that the earlier part of the SHUE start rollout was more effective than later stages. So whilst ShuStart overall was an amazing and effective policy, I think just a simply seek to recreate something that ended in 2010 in 2024 might not be the right approach either.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “Much more is unlocked, and what I hear right across the country from schools is that by the time children arrive in reception, they've already started to slip behind. We see a widening attainment gap. The pandemic has accelerated that, admittedly, and the children that are starting to arrive at school now are of that COVID generation who experience the most serious impacts of isolation from family and friends. But for me, if we could really transform early years education and childcare, that would make the single biggest difference to children's life chances. And the single biggest difference across our school system.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “And it's my job to get it back up the agenda. I think that's easier to do from government than from opposition. And when I've looked at the salience of education as an issue in the run-in to 97 and beyond, it was actually when Labour were in government where we were doing a lot around schools at the salience of education as an issue particularly started to increase. And there were kind of key moments where policy was announced, where changes happened that really cut through with the public. And David Blanca is just an amazing man and it's been a real pleasure to spend so much time speaking to him about his experiences. I think there's an awful lot that I've taken from his approach, from opposition and then into government and an awful lot that I've learned from him. But I do regard childcare in early years education as a central part of our education system. And it was clear to me from taking on this role back in November 2021 that it was the big unaddressed area of education policy in our country. If we can get it right when children are younger, if we can set them up to success.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “I just gently observe that 93% of children in our country go to stay at schools. And I think this is the right thing to do. It sucks up an enormous amount of interest for what is a relatively small part of our school system. And I think it's absolutely right that I'm asked questions about the impact of policy. Have we considered all the implications which absolutely we have done? But I want to make sure the 93% of children in our state schools have the teachers they need, the support that they need, and the mental health provision that they need. And we would use that money to deliver more teachers, more mental health support, better training and development for teachers within the state system. I think that should be the priority of an education secretary to focus on the majority of children within our state sector.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “Two points. Firstly, schools can seek to absorb that cost. So the schools have choices in terms of how they price their fees, what level of provision they offer. There has been, frankly, an arms race where it comes to capital expenditure around many private schools. State schools in recent years have had some really tough choices to make, and I think private schools might like to consider how they cut their cloth. Secondly, we're actually in a situation right now where we are seeing big falling rules right across the country because of the falling birth rate. I don't accept that there'll be large numbers of children leaving, but we're already in a position where schools are merging and closing because of the falling numbers of children coming through the school system. So there is ample space. But I just don't accept the, I just don't accept the premise.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “So I've looked very carefully at the report that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has done on this policy, they conclude that our policy would raise 1.3 to 1.5 billion pounds net and that takes effect of any change as you described, although they anticipate little effect from the policy, mainly because private schools have whacked up their fees way beyond inflation year after year and there hasn't been a shift in the numbers. And increasingly they price themselves out of the middle class market. Like when I was growing up, even in the North East, I knew people that went to private school. I think I would, in similar circumstances now, I would struggle to find similar numbers of people, partly because.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “Wouldn't start if we were to start from scratch, I don't think I'd start with either selection within schools or private schools overall. But I think it's hard to get away from the need for parents to have choice and where they educate their children. And I believe that parents should have choice in that. I just happen to believe that the taxpayer shouldn't be subsidising that choice.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “So I think parents can make decisions about where they educate their children, and that can include private schools. Personally, that's not a choice that I would ever make. I believe in state education. My children go to state schools. My focus as shadow education secretary and going into government, if we win the next election, would be on driving up standards in state schools. But we've got to raise some money to do that. And that's why I think it is the right decision to end the tax benefits that private schools enjoy. parents can choose to send their children to private school as far as I'm concerned. I know parents want the best for their kids. And if that's what they choose, then that's absolutely a legitimate thing to do.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “You know, we've set out the changes we would make around non-DOMs, for example, making sure that the global super rich you make their home here, pay their taxes here. But the reason the last Labour government was able to invest in our schools and hospitals and was able to make that difference was through growing the economy. And if we had anywhere near the levels of growth now that we had then, then the choices would be different.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “I mean, I'm not sure a younger me would have necessarily held that view. I very much came of age in an era where I saw the practical difference that government could make in people's lives. And that's always shaped my politics. We do need to get to a fairer society. That was what I feel we achieved last time around in tackling child poverty in particular is a driving force for me. It's where we made major progress last time around and wherever changes we might want to make in education, the single biggest way that we can provide more opportunities for children and actually could make the job of teachers and schools easier would be to bear down on the numbers of children living in poverty at the moment.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “I believe in a progressive taxation system, and we do need to make changes, many of which we've set out in the context of the election campaign. But it has to be fair across the board, absolutely. And there are problems with the tax system at the moment. But at the same time, we have to tread with care that we make sure that Britain remains a competitive place for businesses to operate, and we make sure that it's where people can strive and can achieve and can make a contribution.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Absolutely. And I get that social mobility is a term that has currency and people understand or think they understand what you mean when you say that. But for me, it's a wider conception of the rule for government in providing freedom and enabling choice and opportunity.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “Think sometimes it can just end up a bit disconnected from people's lives. And if you're not careful, I think you can sound like you're lecturing people on their lives or making judgment about how they live their lives. And you have to have a degree of empathy and understanding, but also acknowledge what it is that people want. And for people who've never really had to struggle, sometimes it can be hard to put yourself in those shoes. And yeah, I think on the left, we just have to be careful that we don't judge people and that we just provide the conditions whereby people commit the choices that work for them.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Yeah, it was people want to put an extension on the house, they want to go on holiday, they want to live in a safe community, they don't want to be blighted by antisocial behaviour. Those are the concerns that when Labour was in government we responded to. We wanted people to be better off. We wanted them to have more, to have choice about how they lived their lives and right across the country that's what people tell me they want for their kids. They just want their kids to have a better life than they've enjoyed.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Well, they were generally more affluent from more privileged backgrounds. That's not to say that if you are from a better off background, you shouldn't have a role to play. Of course you should. But the difference now is that the majority of us in the Shadow Cabinet had the benefits of estate education, happened to think it was brilliant, and have gone on and been able to achieve. Now, for me, however, I think the slight danger around the kind of narrative, which I'm setting out, is that I believe in a concept of social justice rather than social mobility. So for me, it's not just lifting a lucky few out and saying we've solved the world's problems because a couple of people like me managed to go to Oxford and have gone into politics. It's about how right across society we make sure that everyone has opportunity, dignity and a good life where they can raise a family. They don't have to spend all their time struggling and they can enjoy the good things in life, you know, where parents can take their kids on holiday, go to the park, buy an”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “Proud of where we're from. I'm very proud of my background and where I'm from. I'm not going to pretend I'm going to be true to myself and true to the people that I represent. And I won't pretend to be someone I'm not. In order to get on”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “The change that we've seen across society that so many of us, you know, the vast majority of us went to comprehensive schools. And that reflects the wider shift that we've seen in society. And I think it's a good thing that we have more people from a range of different backgrounds in politics now. There are still challenges in a whole host of professions. And I think increasingly arts and media is one area where we have far too few people from a range of backgrounds and it's moving in the wrong direction for different reasons.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “Holds people back, it holds our country back. We don't benefit from the full range of talent of everyone in our country. We're economically poorer. But I think as individuals and collectively as a society, we are poorer. You know, so many of the people that I grew up with work really hard are amazing, brilliant people, but they had to overcome often even more than I've had to in order to get on in life. And for me, that's why education is so important, because for lots of the people that I grew up with, it didn't work out first time around, but it was the chance later on when they were a bit older to go to university as a mature student or to go into training or to get involved in voluntary activity within their community that made such a big difference. But I think with the shadow cabinet that we have at the moment, I'd say it's probably one of the most class conscious shadow cabinets that we've had for some time. And we partly reflect that to shame on you.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “We're a party that's focused on the national interest. As Keira said, lots and lots of times recently, it's about putting the country first. And I think putting a bit of hope and optimism into our country's future. I'm really proud of what we have achieved as a country, but I believe our best days still lie ahead of us. And the Labour Party is focused on the changes that we need to make in order to do that, whether it's around education, which I'm sure we'll come on to, but also just giving people more choice and control in their lives. I think the right often make a really effective argument about freedom. For me, I think it's a left-wing argument that if we want people to have real and meaningful choice about how they live their lives, then the rule for government is to open that up. And my politics are about how you make sure that people's background doesn't determine everything that they can go on to achieve. And right now in our country, we're still a long way away from that. And that's what brought me into politics.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “I'm Labour to my call. I'm from a Labour family. The Labour Party has been a part of my life, my whole life, you know, my mum was a Labour Party member because she was a single parent, she took me along to meetings when I was a kid. There was no compulsion to get involved, but I did because I felt it was the part of how you served your community, how you made change happen, both locally and nationally. I was really interested in international politics as well. And that was important to me. For all of that, I think if you're to be effective as a politician, you have to seek to understand other people's points of view. And I don't doubt that conservative MPs come into politics for the right reasons. I just happen to have a fundamental disagreement about how we use government as a force for good. For me, I think the difference is it's not about individuals. My view of politics is that it's about collective endeavour and how we use the state to give people more freedom and control over their lives. And that for me is what labour is about, giving people opportunities.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “So I was in the whip's office for three years under Ed Miliband's leadership, and I absolutely loved being in the whip's office. And part of that was because you were part of a team. I think in Parliament you can sometimes just feel it can be quite a lonely place and that you're getting on and doing your own thing. But being in the whip's office as part of a team, I really loved. And then after 2015 onwards, I was on the back benches. It's not without its frustrations, of course not, but so few people get the chance to be a member of parliament. And I just felt it was really special. And I also feel having had more time to think about what I believe, why I believe it, and how you can make change happen, I think has put me in a better position to hopefully become a part of a Labour government. I feel far more confident in my own views and far more clear about how you make change happen and how we would do that if we formed the next government, which I don't think I would have had necessarily in quite the same.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “You do, and politicians should be subject to serious scrutiny. We should be asked tough questions. We should be prepared to defend our opinions. But women MPs get an awful lot of nonsense, whether it's how you look, how you speak, whether you smile enough, you name it. Kind of women politicians get a degree of that. Not just women. You know, some of my black and minority ethnic colleagues really get a hard time of it too. I know that. But I think it's incumbent on us to kind of stick it out and change the culture.”

    2024-06-16 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 80. Bridget Phillipson: Can we save Britain's schools? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source