“One of the reasons I came into politics is to ensure opportunities for all to reach our full potential were realised [through] the kind of society we make”
BY NANCY KELLEY, IMAGE BY UK PARLIAMENT
Angela joins me from her new “cubbyhole” office where she’s working on a borrowed laptop, rolling her eyes at the faff. She is here to get things done, and from the very first question that drive is in full effect. Angela, our longest-standing out lesbian MP, and our only out lesbian minister, is an absolute force of nature. In fact, for all her wry humour and warmth, Angela can be ever so slightly terrifying.
Our conversation starts with a scathing summary of the “culture war” politics of the last government. “This obsessive culture war rhetoric that we had from the previous government, always sparking off controversy, always trying to set one group against the other… it’s very, very important that that will now stop because it won’t be being led by government ministers. We’ll be working at making decisions in the best interests of all human beings, not trying to divide them up and pose one group as a threat.”
Unsurprisingly, given her breadth of experience, Angela is not just making a narrow political point here. She speaks to the need to unite in the face of global challenges: climate change, conflict and forced migration, the rise of the far right. She is describing a world that is not safe. “It obviously has darkened, and it will continue to darken unless we can gather the forces to see off the rise in authoritarian populism, the rise in the global alt-right, who seek to take away people’s rights and pursue the politics of blame and division. You do have to fight for your political values of plurality and democracy and universal human rights at times. You do have to assert that they are the morally just and should prevail.”
Listening to her speak, it is clear that this has nothing to do with abstract theorising. The need to unite in the face of global challenges, and the need to defend core values, are as practical and tangible for Angela as the need to repair crumbling public services. Practical, tangible and interconnected.
“The government’s goal is that we grow the economy so we begin to repair some of the damage… so we can start paying for public services and start creating the kind of society you’d expect. A society where there’s adequate public transport for people, but also where there isn’t sewage in the water, where the country isn’t being ripped off, where laws are actually enforced.”
It’s in this well-functioning society that human rights and human worth can be truly recognised. “One of the reasons I came into politics is to ensure opportunities for all to reach our full potential were realised [through] the kind of society we make. So that’s the high vision, and of course that translates into a load of things across the government’s agenda.”
When it comes to priorities for the LGBTQIA community, unsurprisingly the Home Office Minister starts with the need to address rising hate crime. She emphasises the importance of implementing Law Commission recommendations to treat all forms of hate crime equally when sentencing, as well as focusing on building police capacity to meet the needs of the LGBTQIA community. She reaffirms the government’s commitment to a “fully inclusive” ban on conversion practices and flags the need to improve healthcare for LGBTQIA communities, “particularly trans people”.
Interestingly, she is also clear that Labour’s values should guide it towards working in a more responsive way. She says, “I just think it will become clear if we need to do other things to assist with achieving equality,” as she touches on issues like school inclusion and improving LGBTQIA rights globally. At the absolute bedrock of Anglela’s politics is the idea that when we hold onto our values, practical change is inevitable, that our values require things of us. “I know that the Labour Party’s values on all of these things mean that we will make progress.”
She’s less comfortable talking about the personal. Angela is our longest-standing out lesbian MP, and for 10 years was the only out lesbian in parliament. She was the first out lesbian to hold Ministerial office in the UK. It is crystal clear that she must have fought and fought again through the years, but she pays that no mind. Instead, she laughs: “It was fine – I was just getting on with what I was doing. People say, ‘You’re a trailblazer,’ but you never really see yourself as a trailblazer when you’re busy blazing.”
Yet she speaks with passionate admiration for Maureen Colquhoun – “treated like an absolute pariah in the tabloids and the Tory press, but who nonetheless was a completely fearless campaigner”. Angela notes, “We all need to learn about the pioneers of our movement – the Labour movement, and the feminist movement. We all need to know about our history, those that came before us and paved the way so we can have an easier time.”
And she absolutely lights up talking about the number of queer women MPs today and about the sea change in women’s representation in parliament. “When I first came to parliament there were only 60 women out of 650 MPs. We’ve now got 190 Labour women! It’s far more likely now that women’s issues, that issues of LGBT people will be addressed, from the point of view of talking about ‘us’ and ‘we’, not ‘them over there’.”
“You sound excited!” I say, triggering a small humph. But she is.
“There’s nothing better than having a chance to put your values into effect from a position of leadership in government. Because you can actually change society. In the British system, parties win power and parties lose power, but I want to protect these values of equality and opportunities to flourish forward into the future.”
Dame Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey and is a Minister of State in the Home Office.
Please note, this interview was carried out before the recent racist, xenophobic riots.
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