YouSaid · the spoken record

Lucy Powell

lines on the record: 49
first: 2025-09-17
most recent: 2025-09-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“And we see it happening already with a fracturing of society, with the fracturing of politics, with the undermining of democracy and trust in politics. And, you know, I think one of the issues we've kind of had really is that, and you'll recognize this, Nick, because you followed these things longer than me. I think politics is moving faster than I've ever, ever known it in recent years. Government is very slow. We need to bridge the gap between a fast-paced politics and a government that is slow. And I think having a full-time deputy leader out, being the representative of politics and the party can really help bridge that gap. And that's one of the reasons that this transition into government, I think, has been harder than we expected.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't see it. I don't see it like that. Look, I think this is really important we get this right. We were given a very big mandate in that election in 2024, whether you dispute the nature of that mandate or not. We were given a really big mandate to change. We have to show the country that we are on their side and we will bring about the change that they want to see. Because if we don't, I really do fear about the future of our democracy altogether, it resting on our shoulders to prove the model, prove the point. And, you know, I really want to help do that.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's not always been that way, though, Nick. No, this is true. Most of my life, it's been the opposite way round. Yes, everybody.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, if you want to see this government succeed, then I think I can do that job as a full-time deputy showing people that when we work together and when we include everybody, we make better decisions, we show the country our values and not being afraid to say when we're getting things wrong, but not hitting the airwaves, doing that every day.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think care is a phenomenal politician. Look at his record and what he's done. And I really, really want him to succeed and this Labour government to succeed. And actually that's partly why I'm standing because I think success comes from listening and responding and acting and taking on board a wider set of voices and a wider group of people and that makes that is our strength and that will make us more successful. And I think I'm the person that can bring that to the table and really be that conduit that at the moment without that conduit we've lost that now with Angela going and other people going, me included. And maybe that's partly why it's spilling into the airwaves because there isn't a place within for people to actually have these conversations and have that feedback loop.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, it's just classic Westminster bubble obsession, that isn't it, really? You've got two strong women standing in an open and transparent contest. And instead of talking about the two strong women, everybody's talking about this being a sort of proxy for war between two men, which quite honestly I find kind of sexist, but it's also completely marvelous.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't see a choice before him, to be honest. I mean, he's got a job, which he, I know he loves, and he's really good at that.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, look, Andy is, I think Andy is a great politician. He's incredibly popular. I think he's a great communicator. And his record so far in Greater Manchester, I think, stands for itself, what he's done for our buses, which are now more reliable and cheaper and more people are using them on building more social homes, tackling homelessness.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think so. When you look at what we've done in Manchester, the civic leadership that's been provided and the leadership that's been provided in Manchester over many, many years, long before we had a mayor even, that's really regenerated our city, created economic and job opportunities for people. It's done that in a more inclusive way. We have new and better housing. So, for example, always in my constituency where there is regeneration that happens, local people get like-for-like property. So we don't kind of ship people out and then build some new houses. It's always like for like, and that keeps communities together.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know, you'd have to ask them. But there was some really, really great colleagues who were, as shall we say, relieved of their duties in that reshuffle. And, you know, I think we've got a lot of colleagues with a lot they want to contribute. They want to help shape this Labour government. They want this Labour government to succeed. And we've got to use everybody's talents in doing that. Everybody's perspectives in doing that”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, look, there are obviously some positives from immigration, but these things are not all positives. There are downsides to. It has to be managed. It has to be seen to be fair. People have to, you know, if they don't have a right to be here, they need to be returned and people want to see that. And when they feel like there's a loss of control of that, and there's quick change in their communities, people get cross about that. And I totally understand that.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“See change happening really quickly in their area, and I represent Manchester. Manchester is a sort of melting pot of different eras of immigration. My family were Irish immigrants. We had the Windrush generation. It's happened over time. Big Somali community came in the 90s. And I understand completely that these can cause tensions and problems. And we have to ensure that local people feel they've got opportunity and access and that it's not them versus us.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I completely reject that. And I know firsthand, look, I've got an asylum hotel in my own constituency, a ward in my constituency when I first got elected where UKIP at the time nearly took that seat from Labour, where the BMP were really big in East Manchester in my constituency as well. And I know what it takes to fight these things off. And what people want to see, they want to see action in their local area on crime and antisocial behavior. They do want to see everybody abiding the law and there not being kind of one rule for some and a different rule for others. They want to see the allocation of housing being fair to local people and not others getting the allocation of housing and public services being addressed. I know completely, you know, how these tensions and how these issues can take hold in communities. And I understand that. I understand when people...”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look just to be absolutely clear, I certainly is a phrase I should not have used in that any questions debate and I apologize for that immediately because I wouldn't want anyone to think for a second that there was a fibre in my body that didn't think that those victims of grooming gangs didn't need to get full accountability, full justice and that those who covered it up or allowed it to happen shouldn't face full accountability and justice as well. And I hadn't intended it to be in that kind of those racist connotations. It's a slightly different thing and it was taken out of context. But I absolutely...”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, look, there are people, of course, there is lots of people who are, I think most people in this country are proud of their flag, proud of their country. They want to be heard. And I think what we're seeing, and we've got to be really kind of honest about this, is there are tensions, there are worries about issues. And people don't think that necessarily things are working for them and are fair towards them. And it's not just the small boats issue, but the placing of people in communities where the councils and others don't have the capacity and the services to support them, you know, putting them in HMOs and so-called hotels. I mean, what a terrible kind of bit of language is that. And, you know, this is causing tensions in our community. And we've got to be honest about that.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I know that many people will have felt fearful for themselves in London that day as well, because the motivation, it might not be the motivation of everybody on the march, but the motivation of those that organised it, I think, was to divide and to intimidate and to fracture some of the values that we hold dear, the values of tolerance, the value of the rule of law, these great British sort of values. So we need to call that out.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The atrocities, well, look, I mean, that is for an international court. Let's just be clear that is for an international court, but the evidence is mounting and the evidence is all pointing in one direction. And these atrocities that we're seeing, the famine, you know, the man-made famine that is happening, the civilian The oppression what's happening in the West Bank, you know, this, we do need to roundly condemn this and we have, as I say, I think in recent months taken some strong action, but we perhaps people just haven't heard that from the early on mistakes we made.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So perhaps they're not hearing what we've said lately, but I think the Prime Minister's been really strong in recent months.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and we are losing votes to both sides. Let's just be clear about that. And I think tacking one way or the other is not how you do that. But look, the Gaza issue, I think, has been a difficult one in terms of the communities listening to us and having some of the trust with people, especially some of the early actions we took on that. I think that Keir has been really strong in his condemnation in recent months, you know, at the dispatch box last week against the actions of the Israeli government over the summer, calling for the recognition of Palestine, which is really, really important, something I've long supported, the sanctions, the ending of the suspension of the trade talks. We have really strong action. But I think some of that early phase of this conflict, we lost some trust because people didn't see us on the side of a ceasefire and of a political solution.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's kind of comes with a purpose, isn't it, in that sense? I think we've always got to tell the story about what motivates us in a huge interests are we serving. Why are we in politics? And politics is a really difficult juncture, I think, now, our whole democracy, the fracturing, the division, the sort of challenge to our fundamental ways of which we do democracy. And responsibility is with us, not just because we're in government, but because we're the Labour Party, we stand up for the progressive values. We stand up for democracy and we stand up for the many and not the few and bringing people together. That's what we've always stood for.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Let's just say it and be really clear with our body language and not feel like we're in a defensive crouch all the time, that we have to kind of find it out. I know that Key Starmer is, you know, he personally is committed to that.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and I look, I want to have that conversation within the family on the whole. This is my first broadcast interview since last Friday. You know, I'm not here to provide running commentary or to provide an alternative policy platform, but I am here to say, look, let's communicate much more strongly what our values are, what our motivations are, whose side we are on, and connect that back to our communities, through our great movement, which is our strength. Absolutely. Yeah”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, what I would be really clear about, I think we need to be clearer because this is absolutely to the core of what we're about, is that this Labour government, like any Labour government, wants to reduce child poverty. And it's very, very clear from all the evidence that the two-child benefit cap would be the single biggest policy we could do to address child poverty. So I think being in favour of the principle and that being an objective and really people understanding that's what we're working towards, I think is really important. The question is the how and the when. And that is obviously a matter for the chancellor and the prime minister and others to sort of work that through. But I think we've got to have a slightly different body language about that, which I know is what”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, look, I think it's really important that I don't, and we don't in this contest try and sort of write some alternative budget or some alternative policy program. That's actually not what the job of deputy leader of the Labour Party is in any case. This is a sort of campaigner-in-chief, a conduit for the communities that we represent and our members into the leadership of government. And so I don't think it's kind of useful or helpful for me to provide an alternative policy program on that.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The stakes we've all admitted along the way because we've changed the threshold on the winter fuel and we changed what we were doing on welfare. So we've come to those conclusions ourselves while we've been in office”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think part of what's gone wrong is that people have lost sense of what those values are and whose side on whose side we are governing. And I think when you look at our many achievements and the many things that we have been doing, whether that's getting the waiting list down or the more NHS appointments or some of the legislation that we brought in, employment rights bill or the renationalisation or the public ownership of railways, we're taking on the vested interest in service of the many, but yes, some of the mistakes that we've made or some of the unforced errors have given a sense that we're not on the side of ordinary people.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That works in the interest of the many and not the few, and that we're really clear about whose side that we're on. And I think having a story to tell about whose side we're on and whose interests we're serving, especially around the economy, unites that voter coalition. And I did a big piece of work on that after the election in 2019. And that's what that showed as well.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I take a lot of lessons from my own constituency, actually. I mean, you know my part of the world. And half my constituency is what you might call, or pollsters would call a classic sort of red wall constituency, white working class, traditional voters, older voters living sometimes in their own home or social housing. And then the city centre is our more kind of younger, more liberal, kind of left-leaning, if you like, voters who have no particular loyalty. They haven't got that longstanding cultural loyalty to labour. And it's how we unite them together. And I don't think that tacking one way or tacking the other is how we do that. We have to have the common vision that can really unite that progressive voter coalition. And I think that lies in the economy. I mean, they might not say it like that, but in a more fairer economy.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We've seen a huge fracturing, haven't we, in politics, a huge fracturing of traditional voting alliances, of voter coalitions, those broad coalitions? I mean, in those elections that you describe in 2015, in 2019, 2010, the main two political parties scooped up most of the votes. And that's been the case for a long time. But now we're seeing this multi-party politics and the sort of fracturing of the voter coalition. And I think the challenge for us as Labour is to how we reunite our voter coalition and how we rebuild that and tie that together in the coming years.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where I felt more comfortable because I was a duck out of water as a northern comprehensive school girl arriving at Oxford in 1993.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've never claimed to be particularly. I mean, look, I'm very much working class roots in that sense, you know, where my mum is the daughter of Irish immigrants, my dad grew up in a broken household really in a two up, two down with an outside toilet and went to grammar school. They were very young when they had me. We didn't have an awful lot when we were growing up.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think I do, actually, but I was. So I was very much in a political household, but it was a political time as well. Manchester. Manchester Brewing.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's what they always say, and my dad particularly who was very active through my life, and he was the local agent for the Labour Party. So he would put all together all the leaflets, people would come round to our house and get those. He put me on the polling station to collect numbers, you know how we used to do it back in the day, Nick, you'll remember, with a rosette on in the 1983 election. So I was nine at the time. And I sat there for the whole day with a rosette on asking people for the polling numbers. And my dad gave me a one pound note because it was still one pound notes at the time.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was just so important to them because they were, you know, they were baby boomers, their children of the sort of 60s, they'd gone to, they both were the first people to go to university and their family, they'd met at university, they were young, it was Manchester in the 70s. And actually where they were voting in Mosside where I was born, at that point had got a conservative MP, you know, this was like a big election. It was the second election in 74 and they were determined to vote.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely, yeah. I was born on a general election day. And my mum started feeling that she was in Labour before the polls opened. So she had to wait to go into hospital till the polls opened so she was in labour and voting labour. That's our kind of strapline in the office, sorry, at home in 1974. And my dad was a labour activist and a...”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I didn't really fully decide. People keep saying when did you decide? I mean, it was quite an evolution, but lots of people were suggesting that I did it. I think, and it's not something I've ever thought about. You know, Angela Rayner is a good friend of mine, doing a fantastic job. And of course, we all thought that she would be Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party for many years to come. So that all happened quickly. It's not something I've ever really thought about. But, you know, people were suggesting, so I was sort of asking around colleagues in the vote on the Monday evening, and I could see there was quite a lot of support. So that's when I thought I'd go for it.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I love my job as the MP for Manchester Central and no one can take that away from me other than the electorate. So I was just getting on with that job, to be honest.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've had no office yet, absolutely. I've had no office in the House of Commons. I've been doing getting the nominations and standing for Deputy Leader camped in my good friend Jeff Smith's office in the House of Commons because I haven't had an office and I haven't had any staff for the two weeks. I didn't make much use of the ministerial car even when I was a minister. And I've always been very, very sceptical about the sort of trappings of office and getting used to any of the trappings of office. So I was in my constituency office in Manchester at the time. It was a Friday. That was a normal Friday for me. And, you know, I've got one of the best jobs in politics because I'm the MP for Manchester Central, my home city. Well, it's also the constituency from my football club, Nick, sorry, of Manchester City. But, you know, Manchester is a fantastic.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I've not really come up for air, if I'm honest, because I had a weekend Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday, where I was just overwhelmed with the amount of unbelievably lovely and personal messages I was getting over that weekend, especially from MPs and new MPs. Many of them had found my advice and my counsel and my support over that year really, really important to them. So heartfelt messages. And then with that kind of morphed into people saying, will you stand for deputy leader very, very quickly?”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, no, I don't see it like that. I mean, the Prime Minister has been really clear that the Deputy Prime Minister is now David Lammy. So for me or for Bridget, this role, these redefining in that context. And that's why I think it's really, so Deputy leader of the Labour Party has no status in government at all. Its only status is derived if you're also Deputy Prime Minister, which this job won't be. And I think if you look back at our time in government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown too, I think one of the lessons of that time was we didn't do enough to rebuild our party. We let the party sort of wither on the vine in those years and we had everything moved across to government and we didn't keep the focus on what we need to do, both the campaigning capacity and that connection, but also really doing this deep work on our political future, our political strategy and keeping that ideas.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't want to be back in the cabinet. I think this job, a bit like John Prescott wanted to do this job back in the early 90s, I think there's a real virtue now to this job not being inside the cabinet, not being constrained by time and collective agreement and all of that, but working full-time, that connection with the constituency parties, with the communities, with the trade unions, with MPs, all the time, and really developing that political narrative that I think people really want that you can't do in government, that people really want to see us doing.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I see really important part of this job to be that bridge, that constant feedback loop, that conduit, if you like, to make sure that our connection with our communities. And that's what the strength of our movement we've got. We've got all these members, a huge number of members. We've got trade union activists and members across the country who are plugged into their communities to make sure that voice and that connection and that feedback loop helps to shape what we're doing and how we tell the story about what we're doing. And I think I can do that job. And I really want this Labour government to succeed. I really want Keir Starmer to succeed. And I think it's a strength, not a weakness. And it's certainly not something that's disloyal to say, actually, when we're getting things wrong and when we're not having that conversation together and getting those things right, we should be able to say so.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, yeah, I don't need to justify myself in that way. And I think those are private conversations and I never briefed out of cabinet or briefed these sort of private things when I was in government and I don't have any intention of doing that now. But it was my job to understand the parliamentary feeling. That was a core part of my job and to make sure that parliamentary feeling and parliamentary handling was always considered and always taken on board in trying to pass legislation. So that was my job.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm not going to go into what happened at cabinets. I'm not allowed to do that, but also it wouldn't be the right thing for me to do. But it's not just around the cabinet table, these conversations I had, but of course it was my job as leader of the House of Commons to make sure that our legislative program got through the House of Commons. And a big part of that job is understanding the political context, understanding the parliamentary handling, working with the chief whip and whoever was the lead minister to smooth that along and make sure that happens. But I don't know why I was sacked. I'm just surmising.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, one of the reasons I want to be deputy leader is that I have played that role as shop steward over the last year, and I think I've done that well. Maybe you could say not always successfully, but I think I've done that well. And colleagues really wanted me to continue that. And I think it's so important at the moment that we have someone who is able to be that bridge between the leadership and what is happening in the party and with MPs and having a conduit for that. Angela did that brilliantly throughout her time as deputy leader, losing her, losing me from the cabinet, losing everybody else. I think without that conduit now, that's why we're seeing more of it in the airwaves. And I think I can help with that.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't really know. I mean, I think certainly. The role that I played as being I took on board really the role as the sort of shop steward for the backbenches for the house. That's my job as leader of the house is to be the government's representative in the house and vice versa. And I think maybe some of what I was feeding back, especially around how difficult some pieces of legislation like welfare were going to be to land and the suggestions that I was making, I thought I was doing that to be helpful. maybe it was deemed messages that they didn't want to hear.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, no, he phoned me, yeah. I mean, he just said he needed to make way and the usual sort of kind of squit that you get in these situations. I need to make way, you know, it's not about you. I just need to sort of make some changes and everything else. But obviously, there's got to be, there must be a reason why I was chosen over somebody else to be made way for.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A kind of shock, but not a total surprise. I know I'm not really in the in crowd and I don't really sort of play some of the parlour games. And I had fed back things that maybe weren't with hindsight. Maybe I thought I was doing the job I was supposed to be doing, but maybe that wasn't feedback people wanted to hear. So my attitude to these sort of jobs has always been that you don't know how long you're going to be in them. Try and do them to the best of your ability and make an impact while you're in them because politics is, as you know, it's very febrile. It's often not really good reason for why things happen or why decisions are made. And so you just have to sort of take it on the chin at the time.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, it is a hugely important election, and it's been really full on and a huge whirlwind, to be honest. And I think if I came up for air and really thought about it, I probably wouldn't be doing it at all. Yeah, I'm glad I'm in it, but I'm just taking each day as it comes at the moment.”
2025-09-17 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · Lucy Powell: People have lost sense of Labour's values · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source