Here’s a tribute I wrote to my former boss Philip Gould. It was published on Labourlist yesterday.

I was fresh out of university. The job market was flourishing under Labour. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I felt that the world was my oyster. I was hungry for a job in politics and I was determined not to be the last of my friends to secure employment.

Browsing through the many adverts on W4MP, I suddenly came across a position to work for Philip Gould. The Philip Gould. Architect of New Labour and polling guru. I knew this was a golden opportunity but I also knew how competitive this position was going to be. Imagine my delight when I got called for an interview.

Wisely I spent ages preparing for my interview and staying up all night reading The Unfinished Revolution. I walked into Philip’s imposing house (coincidentally, the same ward where I’m now a councillor) feeling a little nervous. Glancing around the beautiful but daunting room, I saw pictures of Philip with political heroes I had only read about.

That’s when it really hit me.

This wasn’t just any interview, this was an interview with Baron Gould of Brookwood. The man responsible for Labour winning three consecutive terms in government. The man who, despite leaving school with one O level, became a key strategic advisor to the Labour Party and one of the country’s most influential men. The man whose political expertise was relied upon by leaders like Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

My new-graduate brazenness depleted slowly and a dull, unfamiliar feeling of terror settled in the pit of my stomach. By the time I was ushered into another huge room stacked with Random House books , I was on the brink of panic.

Philip was on the phone giving some very complicated advice to someone clearly linked to the Clinton administration. With his cup of tea in one hand while pacing round the room, I soon learnt this was Philip’s usual mode.

After what seemed like the longest ten minutes of my life, Philip put down the phone, glanced at my CV on the table in front of him, cocked up one eyebrow and bellowed ‘Tulip – what kind of name is that?! You’ll never make it in politics with an unusual name like that!’

Suddenly my confidence resurfaced and I felt a surge of defiance, retorting: ‘Excuse me Mr Gould, Kitty Ussher has an unusual name and she won a landslide victory at the last election so that’s not true!’

Philip burst into loud guffaws and said ‘I see we have a feisty one here. Interesting! ’

Throughout the interview, Philip continued to pick holes in my life: where I lived, where I went to school, the internship I had done with Oona King (he decided it was my fault she lost her seat in 2005) and even my height. I gave as good as I got because I realised that he enjoyed the lively sparring.

Finally, we got on to the topic of polling. I regurgitated pearls of wisdom from his writing, which I was now well versed in. He looked at me with some element of surprise and asked ‘Have you read my book then?’ I responded confidently ‘Cover to cover’.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘You can start Monday morning, 9am’.

And that’s how I started working for one of the biggest political brains this world will ever have. Philip and I had our differences because we’re both strong willed and differ politically on several issues, but I learnt more in that job than I ever have in my life. His ability to predict and anticipate events in the political landscape was uncanny and a gift that I wish I had managed to learn from him.

Philip was demanding (text messages at 6am) and incredibly hardworking. He set himself impossible deadlines but still managed to meet them and he expected the same kind of dedication from me. He sent me on a course to learn how to conduct focus groups and polling soon after I started and assumed that I was an expert when I returned from the four-day course!

But even when he was at his most difficult, I could still appreciate that I was working for an actual genius. Very few people I’ve met in my life have the ability to analyse ordinary (non-political) people’s words the way he did, and then formulate political policies based on their thoughts.

One of the most exciting parts of my job was going to Downing Street to drop off policy papers. The first time I passed through security, a bored looking staff member asked me where I had come from. I said ‘Philip Gould’s office’. Immediately, there was a spark of admiration in his eye.

It was the first of many similar reactions I experienced whenever I mentioned Philip’s name. After working for Philip, I moved to the Greater London Authority where I encountered the same admiring responses when my former boss came up, and these were echoed when I moved on to work in Parliament.

More recently, I moved to a private firm to work in their corporate social responsibility department. On my second day in the job, I was sitting at my desk trying to get used to my new environment (somewhere that had an actual HR department – amazing!), when a very senior partner in the company came over to me. ‘Did you used to work for Philip?’ he asked excitedly.

‘Yes I did’ I said.

Again, that same flash of admiration. My colleagues around the table looked up curiously. Who was this new girl that a senior partner was so interested in?

‘So did I’ he said. ‘He taught me everything I know. We should meet for lunch when you’re free’.

I smiled ‘Sure’.

‘Aha,’ I thought to myself. ‘That touch of Philip gold never fades. Not even in the private sector’.

Here’s the letter I wrote to the local papers this week:

Dear Editor

I was delighted to speak at the ‘Here and Now’ archives launch last week. This exhibition was curated by the Bengali Workers’ Association with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It’s a wonderful series of panels which tell the life stories of Bangladeshi people who have come to live in the UK. This is a big step forward for the archives in terms of the Bangladeshi community’s contribution to Camden, and it underlines the importance of recording history in both written and oral forms.

These reminiscences explore topical subjects like arranged marriages, racism and culture shocks. Not only are they interesting in themselves, the archives are also a positive reminder of how lucky we are to live in a community where our differences are celebrated. The exhibition is on until 19 December and I would urge everyone to visit the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre in Holborn Library and view these valuable memoirs.

Yours

Councillor Tulip Siddiq

Cabinet Member for Culture

Happy Halloween everyone!

This is an article I co-wrote for Left Foot Forward on the low number of female councillors. You can read it below, or on their site here: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/10/we-need-more-female-councillors-for-everyones-benefit/

The 2010 National Census of Local Authority Councillors, published this week by the Local Government Association, shows static growth in the numbers of women local councillors in the UK. It reports that women make up 30.6% of all councillors in England despite numbering 51.2% of the population overall, and in fact is a slight drop on the 30.8% seen in the 2008 census.

Despite hundreds of separate local elections taking place in the time since the last census of this type, and therefore hundreds of opportunities for the pool of individuals who become councillors to become more diverse, the numbers of women have remained more or less the same.

The low number of women MPs at Westminster is cause for regular discussion in the media, amongst academics and within political parties themselves. This issue has also been highlighted by both domestic and international organisations. Conversely, there is considerably less of a spotlight on the number of women in local councils. The stagnant figures shown above suggest that a renewed focus on the role of women councillors is both necessary and timely.

The relationship between women and local government is undeniably a close one. Women interact on a daily basis with the services provided by local authorities in terms of childcare, education and adult care services. Research has shown that women make over three-quarters of all phone calls to council offices, yet despite this near-constant engagement, women are underrepresented on local councils. It is worth acknowledging that the percentage of women councillors is significantly a higher percentage than that of women MPs at Westminster (currently at 21.5%), but is still short of the 50% mark of parity. The argument for women to make up half of all councillors in the UK needs to be made forcefully if this situation is to change.

The key argument in favour of parity, and possibly the strongest, is justice. Quite simply, it is not fair that women are so underrepresented in local government. This argument posits that there should be no conditionality on the equal presence of men and women on councils as it is simply a question of justice.

However, it is also possible to argue that women councillors can make a difference for the women they represent, and could introduce a feminized view to local governance more broadly, something that has the potential to aid all constituents. That is not to say that women should have to help women in order to ‘earn’ their place on the council, but that the presence of higher numbers of women in local politics will make this feminization process more likely to occur.

Speaking from her own experience, after taking on the culture portfolio in Camden council, Tulip was forced to make an enormous cut to the sports budget because of the lack of government funding. However, her priority from the outset was to ensure that girls’ sport was not disproportionately affected by the financial situation. It is an oversight that could have occurred easily and without any malicious intent as more boys play sport than girls in the borough. From her own experience as a girl growing up in a country where very few sporting facilities were available for young girls, Tulip was keen to maximise the opportunities available. This is not to say that a male cabinet member for culture would have lacked this vision, it is just that it might not have been the top priority for him.

Finally, the role of local government as a political springboard for political careers should not be underestimated. Therefore, the number of women councillors overall should be considered in this context. Over 40% of newly-elected MPs at the 2010 General Election had been councillors, but nearly three quarters of these MPs were men, suggesting a springboard effect from local to national politics that is biased in favour of men, something also seen in data from the comparably-large 1997 intake.

If women are not able to use this pathway to Parliament in the same way as their male colleagues, it makes it even less likely that the number of women in the House of Commons will increase significantly without the use of quotas.

So, what can be done to increase the number of elected women in local politics and, in turn, the House of Commons? Crucially, political parties must work harder to encourage women to stand for their local councils – existing research suggests that women are less likely to decide to stand in local elections on their own than men, acting only when asked by a political party. Political parties, and the networks within them, need to acknowledge this by making women feel valued as members of their organisation and political community. A mix of practical barriers, such as childcare facilities and work-life balance, combined with negative perceptions of local political life as patriarchal, need to be combated in order to remove as many obstacles as possible and create a meaningful and practical equality of opportunity.

Political parties need to ensure that women are recruited to stand in local elections, are given the best opportunities to be elected, and work to increase retention levels once they are councillors. (Women have consistently been found to be more likely than men to stand down following only one term of service). Addressing issues such as the time poverty of councillors, a political culture perceived as patriarchal and updating local governmental practice to best support councillors in their work will ensure that a more diverse range of women (and men) will consider becoming, and staying, local councillors. This is something that will be of benefit to all involved in political life, the institutions in which they work, and the people who they are elected to serve.

I was delighted to visit Kilburn Grange Park this week and accept a kind donation of exotic plants from the British Museum.

You can read the full story in the Camden New Journal today – Kilburn Grange Park gets Aussie plant makeover thanks to British Museum and council partnership

Here’s the letter I wrote to the local papers in Camden this week:

Dear Editor

I am obviously saddened to hear that members of CPLUG are legally challenging Camden’s library policy.

Everyone is aware that we are facing very difficult financial constraints, not just this year but for the next six years.

As I have explained, we are dealing with a £80 – £100 million shortfall in the council’s funding due to cuts from national government until 2014 and a further £40-£50million for the three years afterwards. This has resulted in extremely tough decisions in all areas of public services.

Camden conducted an enormous public consultation with over 6000 people. We decided to try the idea of ‘community libraries’ which was suggested by library users themselves. I have been delighted by the zeal and resilience of Camden people who have said that they will work with me to keep their beloved libraries operating.

Let me be clear, this is not a vague ‘Big Society’ idea, the council plans to put a lot of resources for transitional support and helping these libraries extend their partnerships with other community bodies. There have been some really exciting ideas so far, and I believe we will succeed in preserving services if everyone works together.

A judicial review will not only cost the council and the applicants an enormous sum of money, it will also delay the complex process that we are currently dealing with and threaten some really innovative ideas.

The amount this judicial review could cost the council, in direct costs and delays to our reforms, could buy us 35,000 books for our libraries, or fund staff.

Camden’s Education Commission is currently looking at our ‘family’ of schools, and many organisations connected with education and informal learning, such as Children’s centres, are discussing how we can all work together to promote learning. As they haven’t already, I would appeal to CPLUG to engage in this process and work with everyone else, and not stand alone.

Yours

Tulip Siddiq
Cabinet member for Culture