Sexism at the heart of Labour? Surely not

It was only a matter of time before Lucy Powell got it in the neck for being
successful, young – and above all female.

Just days after Ed Miliband promoted her vice-chair of Labour’s election
campaign, the briefings
against her began. Yesterday they reached a new frenzy, after she
was blamed for approving a leaflet on how the party should tackle the threat
from Ukip.

The document,
which has already somewhat inevitably been described as a “dodgy
dossier”, advised colleagues to concentrate on “moving the
conversation on” to safer terrain like the NHS if immigration came up on the
doorstep. It also advised that dwelling on immigration would not be to
Labour’s electoral advantage.

Cue howls of vituperation from MPs and party insiders, with one sniping: “When
is he [Ed Miliband] going to stop promoting useless people? He was warned
about her.”

Whatever happened to the season of good will? Even Powell’s supposed allies
have been sticking the knife in, from the leader down, with Miliband himself
complaining the document was “not very well drafted”, and the shadow Home
Secretary Yvette Cooper going the whole hog and describing it as plain
“wrong”.

But really, was it?

Of course, it’s always an embarrassment when private campaigning tips are
inadvertently made public. Surely, though, it’s self-evident both that
Labour does better on policies like the NHS, and that immigration is never
going to be very much of a vote-winner for the party?

So that leads me to believe that it’s the messenger as much as the message
that’s in the firing line.

Powell was only elected in a by-election in 2012, and since then, as
I’ve blogged before, she’s made people sit up and take notice,
working hard to draw attention to issues like childcare, and speaking out in
frequent media appearances. I’m not the only one who’s suggested she might
even have what it takes to become Labour’s first female leader.

_{Lucy Powell’s rise has been fast}

But her rapid rise through the ranks – aged just 40 – means she’s had to make
her mistakes in the full glare of publicity. And it’s also left her exposed
to the jealousy of a number of older colleagues who have been passed over
for promotion.

Many of those colleagues are men, so it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that
much of the vitriol hurled in Powell’s direction has a whiff of sexism about
it. Her predecessor in the campaign role, Michael Dugher, didn’t attract
half the bile Powell has. Westminster, it seems, reserves a special place in
hell for young successful women.

There’s one other factor in Powell’s current unpopularity, and that’s her
credentials as a passionate pro-European. Before joining parliament, she
worked at Britain in Europe, initially as communications chief before
becoming campaign director. Arguing the benefits of EU freedom of movement –
as she is now – was right up her street. That’s got up the noses of
Eurosceptic Labour MPs, who are almost as tricky as the Tory rebels
currently making David Cameron’s life a misery.

Life at the sharp end of the Euro battle at Britain in Europe taught Powell a
few life lessons, not least how to deal with difficult colleagues and shrug
off personal animosity. It was a tough, protracted campaign, with opinion
bitterly divided, not unlike the run-up to next year’s election.

So Powell is going to need the skills she honed in that campaign now more than
ever. And her friends say she’s well up to the task. Don’t be fooled by
appearances: Powell might look like a pushover. She’s not.