Do Labour MPs have a problem with Mary Creagh’s accent?

Are Labour MPs making “assumptions” about a member of the Shadow Cabinet on the basis of her accent? Mary Creagh suggests as much in an interview with Total Politics. the Shadow Transport Secretary said:

“People have sort of made assumptions on the basis that I don’t have a broad regional accent, and I’ve been quite quick to put them right about my background…People assume that I’m from a more comfortable background than I actually am, and that’s actually been on my own side when that’s happened. People have made throwaway comments.”

“And I’m always very keen for people to understand that actually, it wasn’t all that easy when I was growing up in Coventry as the car factory shut down and unemployment went through the roof. The fact that I went to Oxford and acquired a kind of… lost my Coventry accent – although it does come back in moments of high stress – it should not be, you know, I think people make a lot of assumptions about people and they’re not necessarily useful or helpful.”

I must admit I had never really noticed Creagh’s accent. What I have noticed though is that there are only a handful of distinct ‘regional accents’ in the Shadow Cabinet. Regardless – no-one should be making assumptions about Labour MPs on the basis of their accents. That’s a dangerous and unhelpful route to go down. It’s what people say, not the voice they say it in, that counts.