Let’s clear something up: Andy Burnham is a lifelong supporter of LGBT rights and that’s why, as an openly gay Labour activist and Parliamentary candidate, I’m proud to support his campaign for the party’s leadership.
Five years ago, he was one of the first frontbench politicians to call for equal marriage. He has never absented himself from a vote on LGBT issues and missed a single vote on adoption in 2002 only by being at the birth of his daughter.
In Government, he voted in favour of IVF for lesbian couples while supporting an amendment on the need to name biological parents. Recently, Andy has said “Modern families come in all shapes and sizes, and no one should sit in judgement of any family. What matters is that children are loved and secure, and grow up to be confident and happy adults. I’ve met children with a single parent, children with many step-parents and those with two mums or two dads, who are some the most loved and happy children I’ve known.”
Last month, I stood for election for Labour in Northampton South. That crushing feeling we all experienced in the early hours of May 8 will stay with me forever. It was an emotional reminder of what happens when we engage in a collective deception that we are at one with the electorate.
In my seat, we always faced a tough task. It’s a sad demonstration of the scale of our loss that we were the only Tory-held marginal seat in the East Midlands to experience a swing from Conservative to Labour, but nowhere near enough to win.
We had lost an emotional connection with many of our traditional voters, who turned to Ukip for answers to the questions we refused to credibly answer and failed to resonate with those middle income families, critical to electoral success, who decided to stick with the Tories.
I have a deep respect for all the leadership candidates and I genuinely hope the coming weeks will see a comradely contest that strengthens the ultimate victor. But politics is about tough choices. That’s why after careful consideration I’m backing Andy Burnham to be Labour’s next leader. He has the experience and strength of character to unite our great party and lead us to victory in 2020.
Andy will take politics out of the Westminster bubble and into the country – speaking to voters we lost to Ukip as much as those critical voters in English marginals like Northampton South who opted to vote Conservative last month.
Kevin McKeever was Labour’s candidate in Northampton South.
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