Why Tessa Jowell gets my vote for London Mayor

Emotional intelligence and intellectual depth personified, Jowell fizzes with ideas and has a record of delivering for the capital that is unmatched

Tessa fizzes with ideas; she has all the warmth in the world but a core of steel (Getty Images)

The Labour Party isn’t a pressure group. It’s a movement that has the simple objectives of greater equality and the eradication of poverty; our mission is to deliver prosperity and social justice for the British people – and the key word there is “deliver”.

If we win elections we can change Britain according to our priorities; lose elections and someone else will do it according to theirs.

The last Labour government left Britain a healthier, safer, better educated country than we inherited in 1997.

It’s not just the big things like a minimum wage, lifting millions of pensioners and children out of poverty and transforming schools and hospitals, it’s the marginal decisions as well. Every single day, government ministers take decisions based on their values. In opposition, you just put out press releases.

Labour will win again if we focus on what it takes to prove ourselves worthy of the electorate’s trust.

The public is never wrong. We lose elections because we deserve to.

Ed Miliband is a decent man who identified many of the issues that have led to a more unfair, unequal and disunited society. We showed that we really cared about fighting for those at the bottom and curbing the worst excesses of those at the top. But the problem seems to have been that the vast majority in the middle didn’t feel we had enough to say to them. Having identified the squeezed middle, we failed to connect with their hopes and aspirations.

We will win again when we have a positive, optimistic vision for a better country that all the British people can believe in. I have yet to decide which of the array of talented candidates can lead us to victory in 2020, but there’s a test for Labour that’s coming much sooner.

In London next year Labour has a chance to win again – but it will be tough. Labour hasn’t won the mayoral election for over a decade. We all know that London is a great city, but it should be better. It’s too unequal and the housing crisis is out of control. Labour needs a candidate who can deliver the change which London needs – and there’s one we know who will. It absolutely has to be Tessa Jowell.

The Tories are terrified of Tessa, with good reason. She is a genuinely popular politician with all the warmth in the world but a core of absolute steel. Emotional intelligence and intellectual depth personified, she fizzes with ideas, is passionate, and has a record of delivering for London that is unmatched.

Tessa was at the very heart of two superb Labour achievements which have shaped London and touched millions of lives – Sure Start and the Olympics. Imagine what she can do as mayor; solving the housing crisis, sorting out the transport system, unleashing the full potential of young Londoners.

Labour’s challenge this summer is to elect the people who are going to affect change, not just talk about it.

Tessa Jowell is a winner worthy of London’s support.