“I didn’t see any point in pretending“: profile of Labour leadership candidate Liz Kendall

At the beginning of the year, even some of Labour's activists didn't know who she was. In just a few months, she could be the party's leader. But who exactly is Liz Kendall?

By Stephen Bush

If Ed Miliband has a heartland, this is it: Fabian New Year Conference, the January before Labour’s thumping defeat. Home of what Michael Frayn dubbed “the Herbivores”: “the do-gooders, the readers of the News Chronicle, the Guardian and the Observer, the signers of petitions, the backbone of the BBC”. Increasingly, too, the backbone of the Labour party.

They love Miliband here – later, he will receive a standing ovation – but on that same morning, they’re listening to someone they truly adore: Polly Toynbee. Toynbee is in full flow, attacking the Blairites, the bankers, and who knows what else. Something in that morning’s Daily Mail has caught her eye. “Hands up here if anyone has read the Daily Mail today?”