Richard Burgon enters the race to be Labour's deputy leader
3 min read
Richard Burgon is to stand to be the next deputy leader of the Labour Party.
The Shadow Justice Secretary said he had made up his mind after "discussions with MPs and party members" over Christmas.
He is the third Labour MP to throw his hat into the ring to succeed Tom Watson as the party's number two, joining Dawn Butler and Khalid Mahmood.
Mr Burgon, the MP for Leeds East since 2015, is a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn and has said he will back Rebecca Long Bailey if she chooses to run for leader.
In an article for Tribune in the wake of Labour's crushing general election defeat, he said Brexit was to blame, rather than Mr Corbyn, for the Tory victory.
He said: "In 2017 we won 3.5 million extra votes, making huge strides in winning back the 5 million votes lost between 1997 and 2010 after backing war and proposing austerity.
"But something significant obviously changed between 2017 and last week. Given that we had the same leader in Jeremy Corbyn and a similar manifesto to 2017, I think it is mistaken to focus blame there.
"Of course, Jeremy came up on the doorstep. But this is the fourth leader I’ve campaigned for and each time – whether it was Tony Blair and Iraq, Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband or Jeremy – the leader always came up."
Mr Burgon added: "My experience on the doorstep, in my strongly Leave constituency, suggests this defeat was because this became the ‘Brexit Election’ that Boris Johnson wanted. That triumphed over traditional party allegiances.
"By that I don’t just mean that people wanted to get beyond Brexit – and who can blame them when it’s been a black hole sucking the life out of all other issues that need tackling in our communities, such as poverty pay, crumbing schools, boarded up high streets or a broken social care sector?
"But Brexit also became an issue of trust. The failure to “get it done” meant many people simply did not believe we’d be able to deliver on our ambitious manifesto. Put simply, the mood was: if you won’t honour the referendum, then why should we trust your pledge to deliver a huge house building programme, a £10 per hour minimum wage or scrap tuition fees?"
In order to win again, he said Labour "must be the champion of the whole working-class: whether in towns and cities, whether Remain or Leave, and ensure we are a party that reflects the diversity of the working-class in 21st century multicultural Britain".
In April this year, Mr Burgon spoke of his "regret" at previously describing Zionism as "the enemy of peace".
And in February, he won a libel case against The Sun after it claimed he had performed with a band that “delights” in Nazi symbols.
The Shadow Justice Secretary was awarded £30,000 in damages by the High Court, and said he would use the cash to fund a justice internship for a young person in his constituency.
As well as Ms Butler and Mr Mahmood, Mr Burgon is also expected to face Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner in the race to be Labour's deputy leader.
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