Labour MP Jess Phillips today revealed she would put herself forward to be party leader.
The Birmingham Yardley MP, who was only elected to the Commons in 2015, told the Huff Post UK she would stand for the position as she feels “duty bound” to not be a “shrinking flower” when it comes to her professional ambitions.
Phillips, who has been a long-standing critic of current leader Jeremy Corbyn, hit out at her party for being “systematically sexist” for never having had a female in charge.
She also agreed that women in the party should come together when the next leadership race materialises to ensure a female candidate “goes through”.
Speaking at Commons People Live event broadcast on Facebook, Phillips was asked if she would ever stand for leader.
She replied: “I would, and I say that I would as I feel I’m duty bound to not be that sort of shrinking flower that goes ‘Oh I couldn’t possibly...’ because I think that actually one of the problems that women have in stepping forward is women are much less willing to verbalise and visualise their own ambition and I want women to stop doing themselves down.
“I want them to say: ‘You’re damn right I should be the boss of this company! You’re damn right I should get this promotion.’
“So yes, I wouldn’t do anything, I wouldn’t work anywhere, if I wasn’t interested in getting to the very top.”
Watch the full interview below: