Mary Creagh calls for Alan Johnson to return to the Labour frontbench

Mary Creagh, Shadow Transport Secretary, has joined Tom Watson, Len McCluskey, John Prescott in calling for Alan Johnson to return to the Labour frontbench.

Speaking to George Eaton from the New Statesman, Creagh said that she would “love” for Johnson, former home secretary, to come back into the Labour leadership fold. She said:

“Would I want to see Alan come back? Yeah, definitely. I think Alan’s got a huge contribution still to make to politics.”

“I also want him to keep writing his books, because they’re fantastic too. I read This Boy. I thought it was wonderful, I cried when I read when it, it was just so incredibly moving. You understand where Alan comes from in a completely different way, but it was also a beautiful tribute to the west London working class life that he had. He showed a different world and a different approach, and a different model of fatherhood. But also the generosity of the people around his family, giving them a box of groceries because they never quite had enough food.

“I felt like some of that was certainly what I saw and see going around, particularly the food and the hunger side of things: Fair Share giving out three million meals across the country, kids turning up to school hungry, malnutrition on the increase and people making very difficult choices about where they spend their money and how they feed their families. I feel like some parts of what he was talking about are creeping back into certain parts of our country.”

She also explained why Labour didn’t decide to take the railways back into public ownership:

“Because it could cost the taxpayer more, not necessarily, but it could. If you want to get the best value, you go out and see who can deliver the service. It’s partly about price, but it’s also about quality and customer satisfaction.”