Jess Philips Discusses MP Safety and Social Media at the Cheltenham Lit Fest

Oct 10, 2024

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The image shows the cover of a book titled "Let's Be Honest: Truth, Lies and Politics" by Jess Phillips. The cover has a two-tone design with the top half in red and the bottom half in green. The title "LET'S BE HONEST" is written in large black and white letters on the red background, while "TRUTH, LIES AND POLITICS" is in smaller yellow letters below it. The author's name, "Jess Phillips," is prominently displayed in large black letters on the green background. At the bottom, it mentions "THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR" in smaller black and white letters.

is time five years ago, at this exact festival, Jess Philips received the news of the death of fellow parliamentarian David Amos who was stabbed at his constituency surgery Southend. Coming back to talk about her new book, Let’s Be Honest, she discusses the last 14 years of government, her own experience of government so far and the importance of safety - for not only ordinary people, but for MPs and the affect that social media is having.

At her event on Saturday 5th October, she discussed what it was like being a woman in politics; she has nine locks on her door, a panic room in her constituency office and has to deal with numerous death threats a day.

The image shows a stage setup at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. There are two women seated on brown leather sofas on the stage. The woman on the left is wearing a dark outfit and holding a piece of paper, while the woman on the right is wearing a green patterned top. Behind them is a large blue backdrop with the text "The Times The Sunday Times Times Radio Cheltenham Literature Festival" prominently displayed. Above the stage, there is a large screen showing a close-up of the woman on the left, with the caption "Jess Phillips, thanks very much. And." The audience is visible in the foreground, silhouetted against the stage lighting.

This is something that she is trying to teach new MPs how to deal with, and how to be pragmatic in their approach to their work in whatever way works for them; for her personally she has used dark humour, which is something she learnt to do long before entering the political arena.

“it’s a great coping mechanism… you're fine until you're not, when you are immediately taken back to reality and feel insecure and as if you are being controlled and you have a few days and then you have to just carry on.”

Social media is a space a lot of people use to express how they are feeling about something that has happened, whether that be happiness or anger. The consequences of this can spark something a lot bigger (think back to the riots in the summer following the stabbing of children at a dance class in Southport) and this can be dangerous for everyone - whether they are an MP or not.

Jess is well aware of social media - or as her husband puts it, “the internet is leaking on you again.” Although she has been an MP for nearly 10 years she is still unsure of how to handle regulations for social media:

The image shows a stage at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The stage is set up with two people seated on brown leather chairs, engaged in a discussion. Behind them is a large screen displaying a close-up of one of the speakers, a person with short hair wearing a green patterned outfit. The screen also shows subtitles of what the person is saying, which reads: "in the risk assessment of male violence. And years of understanding how to help". The backdrop of the stage features the festival's branding, with the words "The Times & The Sunday Times", "Times Radio", and "Cheltenham Literature Festival" prominently displayed. The stage is decorated with stacks of books and crates, some of which have the word "Read" written on them. The audience is visible in the foreground, seated and watching the event. The venue has an ornate ceiling with decorative molding and a large, dark curtain framing the stage.

“It’s on us to find a different way for our communications and express our feelings, In real life we are rubbing along together in a perfectly reasonable way and yet you would believe we are all at each other’s throats”.

Social media is always growing and has already begun to control how we feel and think something Jess is worried about “I worry about young people being able to see the wood through the trees.”