Phillipson: I've been the victim of sexist briefings

"Phillipson replied: "Yeah completely, but you know that's life." Describing "all of this negativity", Phillipson said "there's a certain irony" in then being described as the PM's favourite. "I've been underestimated most of my life," she said, adding she'll just "continue getting on and doing what I'm doing". "But I do slightly have to laugh because there's this idea swirling around somehow that I'm Number 10's preferred candidate for all of this.""

"In past weeks, rumours were circulating that she would be sacked from her Cabinet role, while in fact, Phillipson was left in post by Sir Keir Starmer in his recent reshuffle. Speaking in the week before the Labour Party's autumn conference in Liverpool, where she will go head-to-head with Powell in a hustings, Phillipson laughed off suggestions she was Downing Street's preferred candidate, saying there was "a certain irony" in those assertions."

Bridget Phillipson is running to be Labour deputy leader against former Commons leader Lucy Powell following Angela Rayner's resignation. Rumours circulated that she would be sacked from the Cabinet, but Sir Keir Starmer left her in post in his reshuffle. Phillipson said she had been the victim of 'sexist briefings' and laughed off suggestions that she was Downing Street's preferred candidate, calling it 'a certain irony'. She said she had been underestimated most of her life and would continue getting on with her work. Phillipson acknowledged some colleagues felt excluded by the prime minister's team and described a wider feeling of negativity.

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