Ol Rappaport ✡️🕎🇮🇱 💙💛

🚨🚨🚨EXCL Catherine West speaks to the New Statesman about her leadership bid, including: Party leadership begged her to delay this move until Tuesday, after the PM’s reset speech On triggering a contest: “I haven't actually even looked at the rules because I don't actually want to do this” She says she has been “inundated” with support from MPs but “I haven't actually looked at who they are” Dismisses anger from leadership camps that were blindsided: “some people will be upset with me because of the risk, because some of them had a plan about, you know, in six months time, we're gonna do this, and then we're gonna do that. Sorry, that's just too late.” Says Andy Burnham cannot be PM: “I'm sorry for people who had a big plan about particular candidates who one day will be, you know, an MP and all that sort of thing… I really like Andy, but he's not here on the spot, so he can't really do it” She says she is both a “lone wolf” and a “stalking horse” but that: “You know what sometimes happens to stalking horses? They become the candidate” She will not back down until other candidates publicly announce - not private assurances or backroom deals: “They've got to be open, they need to be upfront like me.” Thinks next PM could be an unknown MP and even one from the 2024 intake - thinks her shock move could trigger a more interesting contest A friend losing her council seat was part of her reason for going now

A selection of Green Party candidates in Sheffield. They chose these headshots. Chose them. Ponder that.