Tessa Jowell: on the race to be London's next mayor

Boris Johnson may credit Dame Tessa Jowell with the success of the London 2012 Olympics, but she certainly doesn’t share his ideals. As she launches a bid to succeed him as Mayor, the former Blair babe reveals her plans to make rich immigrants and corporations pay their way, to transform London into a fairer city for Londoners
On a mission: Tessa Jowell
Sarah Sands15 January 2015

Dame Tessa Jowell moves in powerful circles, so it is not surprising to hear that she turned to Hillary Clinton for advice on standing as Labour candidate to be Mayor of London in May 2016. Clinton’s argument sheds light on both of their intentions. ‘I had a conversation in the summer,’ says Jowell. ‘I said: “Are you going to do this? Am I going to do this?” Hillary said: “No guts, no glory.” ’

Tessa Jowell is 67, the same age as Hillary Clinton, and has a top-level political career behind her. But she is indignant about suggestions that it could be time to retire.

‘People used to say after the Olympics, “You can make lots of money and have time to yourself.” But a voice in me said, “That is not enough. I have more to give.” ’

As for the age question: ‘This is what 67 looks like,’ she says, flashing her china-doll eyes. ‘Anyone who made age an issue would be plain daft. I feel full of energy.’ Asked why she wants to stand for Mayor, she says that if she did not, she would always have to answer the question to her herself: ‘Why not?’

Jowell was born in Central London at the Middlesex Hospital, the daughter of a doctor and a radiographer. She has worked in the capital as a social worker, then as an MP, then a Cabinet minister. Jowell was part of the core team to stage London 2012. She was also the minister in charge of assisting victims of the 7/7 bombings in 2005. If you cut her veins, you would probably find the River Thames running through them. Her pitch as Mayor is that she could be mother to the city, encouraging, soothing, healing after the Boris Johnson era of big cranes and bigger egos. She presents herself as a grass-roots activist, but she is also a consummate politician.

The first experience of Tessa Jowell is like a social worker’s visit. She arrives for the interview a little late, because the taxi driver has taken a traffic-heavy route. I ask her, light-heartedly, if she did a David Mellor, and she looks horrified. ‘No, NO!’

Jowell is neat and pretty and wafts Jo Malone perfume. She has a soft, attentive manner. She is the ‘people skills’ candidate.

‘This is what 67 looks like’: Tessa Jowell

She climbs out of her fashionable coat, which she bought at sale price because of its broken zip. She squares a taste for designer clothes with a modest salary and Christian socialist principles by taking secret trips to Bicester Village shopping outlet. I ask if she minds that former New Labour colleagues such as Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson made so much money while she did not. Jowell shakes her head. ‘I don’t mind, I feel incredibly lucky. What else do I need?’

I ask if, for instance, a ride in a private jet would tempt her. ‘Not really,’ she says, frowning. ‘If you said to me, “By 2020 you could be worth £10 million or £2 million, or there would no longer be unemployment for 18- to 22-year-olds, or the inequality gap in early childhood would have closed,” there would be no contest.’

Nor is Jowell impressed by the wealth of others. She says that her chief concern about London is the inequality gap. I quote back to her Peter Mandelson’s politically haunting phrase: ‘We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich.’ She cocks her head to one side: ‘Am I completely relaxed? I am not sure I am intensely relaxed about the growing differential between those at the top and those at the bottom. I campaigned for the Living Wage, which is a mark of decency. If you take a business like John Lewis, the chairman Charlie Mayfield sets a ratio between what he earns and the people on the shop floor. We live in an age where people want to be proud of who they work for; you get greater resilience and loyalty. And consumers will vote with their feet if they think their favourite shops are not behaving well.’

Jowell switches to soap-box delivery. ‘And Uber should pay its taxes in this country! All the kids I know have Uber accounts, so why doesn’t the company pay its taxes here and be proper citizens?’

Jowell is known for her collegiate loyalty and is one of the few public defenders in her party of Tony Blair. His business interests and his record on Iraq have made him a pariah. Asked if her friendship with him will hinder her mayoral bid, she says hotly: ‘There’s a lot of rewriting of history. Blair’s government introduced the national minimum wage, extended maternity pay, began Sure Start. Iraq casts a long shadow, but the belief now that he is some kind of warmonger scoundrel living in the shadows is completely untrue. ‘I don’t think he has stood up for himself; he has just got weary of the attacks and he has allowed his legacy to be corroded. As he put it to me: “You have a choice when you are a former prime minister. You can either fly around the world asking rich people to give you money, or you can fly around the world earning money.” He employs 250 people. And it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have two lovely houses, and lovely kids and all the rest of it, but, for goodness’ sake, does anyone really begrudge him that?’ We allow this to rest as a rhetorical question.

Jowell concedes that the mood has changed since New Labour days. ‘The global banking collapse had a profound effect. In London people feel much more insecure, there is a more acute sense of what is fair, there is less tolerance for those who come to this city and contribute nothing, except to make homes more unaffordable.’ Interestingly, at a time when the political language has become harsh towards immigrant ‘scroungers’, Jowell’s target is the rich immigrants.

She always took Blair’s side during his arguments with Gordon Brown. Now she takes a long view. ‘I am glad that Gordon has had this revival, post the Scottish referendum. He was a great chancellor. He just couldn’t do the job of being prime minister; it is much more complicated than being chancellor, it demands many more aptitudes. I was sad to see Gordon diminished in that way. Also, I felt I understood the bleakness of his soul.’

This insight turns out to be based on geography rather than empathy. Jowell spent time during her childhood on the northeast coast of Scotland. ‘We drove there in February, there were terrible gales, it was the wrath of God, very Brownesque. That coast is so bleak in the winter. Even now I keep my house in London so hot, because of the memory.’

Jowell witnessed the battle between two alpha Labour figures and she is now campaigning in the wake of an alpha male London Mayor. Does she tire of being eclipsed by men? She smiles fondly at the memory of Johnson bounding up to her at the Olympics. ‘He said: “I am just Hoovering up the credit, Tessa.” I didn’t mind. There is something about working with a first-rate team where you are bound not by rivalry but by vision and passion. I did it for the Olympics and it is what I want to do for London.’

Political roots: Jowell's first job was as a childcare officer in Brixton

Her decision to stand for Mayor is determinedly held, but was only made after long discussions with her family, including her pop- singer daughter Jess Mills. Jowell has had bad experiences of scrutiny into her private life. Her husband David Mills is a tax lawyer who acted for the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in the early 1990s, and got caught up in allegations of corruption. Mills and Jowell split up in 2006, although they were later reunited. Jowell says of then and now: ‘We had lots of family discussion and what we all feel is that that was a terrible chapter. We are in so much a happier place now, and I certainly have the resilience for this.’

Jowell also discussed standing with her mother, who died recently. Her voice catches at the memory, and her eyes fill with tears. ‘My mother was incredibly fond of Boris. About six months ago I said, “Mum, I’m thinking about standing,” and she said: “Of course you must stand, but will Boris be out of the way?” ’

Her other moment of tears is the memory of the Olympic torch. She is an interesting mix of warm-heartedness and political calculation.

Her top priority for London will be the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. It is a return to her political roots. Jowell’s first job was as a childcare officer in Brixton. She remembers accompanying her senior manager to remove a child from a 14-year-old mother, who had locked her baby in a cupboard when she found it unruly.

Her second priority is inequality: ‘London risks becoming two Londons. We keep saying it’s the greatest city in the world, but it isn’t the greatest city if you are 22 and living out in the suburbs because you cannot afford all the excitement of the well-off young in London. I am not relaxed about very rich, globally mobile people buying property in London as if it is gold and then not contributing to the city. I want to bind this city together, not allow London to become two Londons.’

This is the Mary Poppins candidate, promising to give the city its spoonful of medicine, with a raft of new policies. Jowell was the third of four Labour candidates to declare and more wait in the wings. Three Conservative candidates are already in. The race begins.

QUESTION TIME WITH DAME TESSA...

What time do you wake up? 6.10am on weekdays, later at the weekends.

How often do you work out? Four times a week, plus as much walking as I can get in.

Where do you do your food shopping? Waitrose, my local shops and Brixton and Borough markets.

Power-shower or relaxing bath? Depends on the time of day.

Guilty pleasure? Bendicks Bittermints frozen hard straight from the freezer.

Favourite TV show? Broadchurch. Delighted it’s back.

Best place to read the papers on a Sunday morning? Unless I have to read them, I prefer to go out for a walk or head to the gym.

Favourite designers? The Outnet.com. Love it, especially the cheap deals on a Friday.

Last album you bought? This is the Sea by The Waterboys. ‘The Whole of the Moon’ is one of my favourite songs.

Person you phone most often? My kids.

Would you rather go on Strictly, Celeb Big Brother or I’m a Celebrity? None of them. I’m a politician, not a celebrity.

What annoys you most about London life? Seeing houses in smart parts of London with no lights on because their owners leave them empty most of the time while thousands of people can’t afford anywhere decent to live.

Last time you took the Tube? This morning.

New Year’s resolution? Stop snacking on sweet things at 4pm.

Favourite app? Bus Times — it means not hanging around at the bus stop on my way to the Tube.

Portraits by Pål Hansen

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