Jess Phillips: I’m standing for Labour leadership ‘because we need more honesty in politics’

Labour backbencher Jess Phillips has formally joined the race to be the party’s next leader and has presented herself as the change candidate, saying “more of the same won’t cut it”.

She announced her leadership bid in Grimsby, a seat the Tories took at the general election for the first time in 74 years.

“I’m standing because I think we need more honesty in politics and the Labour Party has got to be honest with itself, it’s got to be honest with the country that, if we can lose seats like Grimsby, something has to change,” she said.

“When we have a Prime Minister like Boris Johnson who can bluster and lie his way to the top, we need somebody who will truly speak truth to power, who will be able to take him on, will be able to reach people in the country so that the Labour Party can win back Grimsby and win back the rest of the country.”

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