Cerys Howell

Where are all the women in Labour's leadership race? Jess Phillips pulled out of the contest in January. Emily Thornberry, who ploughed on in spite of having less overall support, was knocked out a fortnight ago. Two women candidates remain. But every indication, from this week’s polling to CLP nominations to betting odds, is that Keir Starmer will beat Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy to a resounding victory on 4 April. With ballots going out this week and 70 per cent of members likely to vote within the first three days, the election is all but over. How did it happen that Labour, once again, will not elect a woman as its leader?

As the well-worn cliché has it: if you’re not a socialist at 16, you don’t have a heart; if you’re still one at 60, you don’t have a head. The Labour party is on the brink of extinction. To survive, its members must use their heads. At 16, I was a fanatical socialist, reading Lenin, wearing a Chairman Mao hat and marching against the Iraq war. At 19, I went to Cuba. I learned about the revolution and planted crops with farmers, working with Amnesty workers and middle-aged Trots. The year I left university, David Cameron was elected prime minister and, for the first time since I was in primary school, we had a Tory government.