Lisa Nandy, the ‘dark horse’ Labour leadership contender, once offered sex advice to students – and starred in a photo casebook showing her naked in bed with another woman.
Ms Nandy – whose prospects have surged since her composed performance during last week’s BBC interview with Andrew Neil – appeared in a comic book-style photostrip recording her quest to find a boyfriend in Newcastle University’s Courier student newspaper.
The Wigan MP’s racy past came to light as fellow leadership candidate Jess Phillips, 38, was revealed as a co-author of a ‘hot or not’ column in her Leeds student newspaper in which she praised pop star Kylie Minogue’s bottom and complained that energy drinks ruined the taste of vodka.
Ms Nandy appeared in a comic book-style photostrip recording her quest to find a boyfriend in Newcastle University’s Courier student newspaper
Ms Nandy, 40, was a politics undergraduate at Newcastle two decades ago. Described in her column’s masthead as an agony aunt ‘who likes a bit of hot mail’ she is shown in the photostrip saying: ‘I’ll never find a man!’
When a friend suggests a suitable partner, Ms Nandy is pictured with the prospective date with her hands pressed to her head in exasperation.
A thought bubble reads: ‘Oh, my God! I’m not f***ing s****ing THAT!’
Later, as she is chatted up by another student who offers her a drink, Ms Nandy says: ‘I’d love a stiff one! Actually, d’ya wanna come back to my place?’ After apparently having sex with him, the MP is pictured discussing the incident with a friend.
Ms Nandy, 40, was a politics undergraduate at Newcastle two decades ago
Using her fingers to illustrate her point, she complains: ‘His w***y was the smallest I’ve ever seen! I’m going back on the pull.’
Later, after the intervention of a ‘Fairy Godfather’, Ms Nandy is pictured naked with her arms wrapped around a blonde woman, saying: ‘Ooh, I thought you only had your ears pierced!!!’
Next to the photostrip she writes: In another column she writes: ‘As I’ve said many times over the course of this year, there are just no fit men at this university … There’s a lot of diversity in a university – virgins, slimy b******s who offer to buy you a drink but have no intention of doing any such thing, geeks, the lot.
‘The trick is how to spot them. You can usually identify a virgin from a thousand paces, cos they’ll be trendy dressers and well into dance music. The only solution is to quit the manhunt and wait till after uni when you’re back amongst normal people.’
In another photo casebook, a male student is pictured smoking a spliff to ‘calm his essay crisis’, then gets a first for his work. Ms Nandy writes: ‘Before the anti-drugs lobby gets straight on my case, I am not about to advocate getting caned before a deadline.’
In another column, a third-year student asks how to chat up first-year students. Ms Nandy replies: ‘You could try pulling in the Union when Red Bull and vodka is on special – it works for me.’
Ms Phillips, who last week faced questions about her postgraduate qualifications, was joint author of a Leeds Student column rating various trends and personalities.
Written under her maiden name of Jessica Trainor, one column says of Ms Minogue’s bottom: ‘Hot or not depending which sex you are. Great for you lads, bad for us girls – we’re praying it’s implants or we may lose the will to live.’
The Wigan MP’s racy past came to light as fellow leadership candidate Jess Phillips, 38, was revealed as a co-author of a ‘hot or not’ column in her Leeds student newspaper
In another entry the Birmingham Yardley MP writes of energy drink Red Bull: ‘Necking straight vodka by the can load would be better. It doesn’t so much ‘give you wings’ but instead insomnia and insanity. You sooo want to forget the evening of drunken disaster but instead you are forced to relive it in painful solitude in place of sleep.’
Ms Nandy and Ms Phillips are two of the five leadership contenders alongside Emily Thornberry, 59, Sir Keir Starmer, 57, and Rebecca Long Bailey, 40, whose student years appear to have been far less racy.
Ms Thornberry featured prominently in Kent University’s InCant newspaper as a staunch member of the Labour club during the early 1980s. The Shadow Foreign Secretary is described as ‘one of the most popular politicians on campus’ but quit her role with the students’ union, citing academic pressure and saying: ‘I could continue to be vice-president if I lied my way through it, but I can’t.’
Sir Keir, meanwhile, read law at Leeds University where his only reference in Leeds Student was a personal advert hailing him as ‘Keir Starmer – king of middle class radicals.’
Rebecca Long-Bailey’s leadership bid is thrown into fresh turmoil as she clashes with aide over her ‘regressive’ abortion views
Labour leadership contender Rebecca Long Bailey has defended her decision to speak out on abortion as she won the surprise backing of a top Tory for her stand.
In a defiant riposte, she hinted that her concerns had been ‘misrepresented’ in a bid to damage her bid to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.
There were also claims from fellow Catholic Labour MPs that she was the victim of attempts to use her faith to ‘smear her’.
But it emerged that one of her own campaign team had suggested that people with ‘regressive’ views on abortion should not be Prime Minister.
Labour leadership contender Rebecca Long Bailey has defended her decision to speak out on abortion as she won the surprise backing of a top Tory for her stand
Ms Long Bailey, the so-called ‘Corbyn continuity’ candidate, found herself at the centre of a bitter Labour row last week after appearing to back stricter abortion laws.
Responding to a questionnaire from local Catholic churches during the General Election campaign, she said that she did ‘not agree’ with current rules allowing women to terminate their child on disability grounds after 24 weeks.
She said she backed the Disability Rights Commission’s view that ‘the context in which parents choose whether to have a child should be one in which disability and non-disability are valued equally’.
The Salford MP has now defended her remarks and hinted at the ‘Machiavellian’ way the story emerged.
In an apparent dig at the Red Roar website which broke the story, she said: ‘It’s been quite suspicious.
‘There have been certain news sources that have perpetrated this misrepresentation over the last 24 hours.’ Ms Long Bailey told Channel 4 News she was ‘by no means suggesting we need to restrict our abortion laws further’, but had wished to raise concerns ‘that the disabled community would feel’.
Last week, her campaign team insisted her abortion stance was her personal view, not a policy position, saying she ‘unequivocally supports a woman’s right to choose’.
Last night, Labour insiders said the remark was a further ‘body blow’ to Ms Long Bailey after a new opinion poll showed her trailing a long way behind leadership favourite Sir Keir Starmer (pictured)
But last night, it emerged that her own recently hired campaign communications chief – ex-Corbyn aide Matt Zarb-Cousin – had voiced doubt about people with similar views on abortion holding high office.
Tweeting last year about former Tory Minister and abortion critic David Lidington, who also voted against civil partnerships, Mr Zarb-Cousin wrote: ‘Personally, I wouldn’t be too comfortable with someone possessing such regressive views on LGBT rights and abortion occupying Number 10 but each to their own.’
Last night, Labour insiders said the remark was a further ‘body blow’ to Ms Long Bailey after a new opinion poll showed her trailing a long way behind leadership favourite Sir Keir Starmer.
However, sources close to Mr Zarb-Cousin hit back last night, saying Ms Long Bailey’s views on abortion were ‘in no way comparable’ to Mr Lidington’s who voted for tighter time limits on abortion.
One friend said: ‘The difference between David Lidington and Rebecca is she never voted to restrict the right to abortion and has only voted to extend it in the case of Northern Ireland.’
Last night, Mr Lidington – who said that when he was an MP he had generally voted on the ‘pro-life ticket on abortion’ – sprang to Ms Long Bailey’s defence. He said: ‘She should be entitled to whatever views she has on abortion and to vote accordingly, and it should be treated with respect as a matter of conscience.’
Mr Lidington also contrasted the ‘thought police’ attitude of some in the Labour Party with the Tories who always treated it as a matter of individual conscience.
Separately, two Catholic Labour MPs – Mike Kane and Conor McGinn – claimed the reaction to Ms Long Bailey’s remarks had produced ‘age-old, anti- Catholic bigotry’.
In an article for PoliticsHome, they said neither of them had nominated her for the leadership ‘but we will not stand idle while her faith is being used to smear her or tolerate blatant sectarianism and anti-Catholic tropes’.
Emily Thornberry faces calls to ‘sack’ aide Helen Goodman in her Labour leadership bid amid allegations of ‘bullying’
Emily Thornberry last night faced calls to ‘sack’ a key aide in her Labour leadership bid over allegations of bullying.
Helen Goodman is accused of being ‘beyond rude’ to Commons staff advising her on how to wind up her constituency office after she lost her Bishop Auckland seat at the Election, according to sources. In an extraordinary sanction, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has now refused her one of the special passes that allow former MPs ‘unescorted’ access to the Palace of Westminster.
It is believed Miss Goodman, campaign treasurer for Miss Thornberry, rowed with Commons officials over access to her emails.
A source said Sir Lindsay had banned her for a year and will only consider her for a pass if she undergoes a Commons anti-bullying courses. Last night, Shadow Foreign Secretary Miss Thornberry made clear she would ignore calls to ‘sack’ the ex-MP.
A spokesman said: ‘Emily knows Helen is not a bully and that this was a heat of the moment incident in what by any standards is a highly emotional day when you leave Parliament after so many years of service.’
The spokesman added that neither Miss Thornberry or Miss Goodman were aware of the allegation when she was recruited. Miss Goodman could not be reached for comment.