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The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2017 - Politicos: Westminster

Amber Rudd: Toby Melville: Reuters
Amber Rudd: Toby Melville: Reuters

Amber Rudd

Home Secretary

She heroically took Theresa May’s place in the general election TV debate — and more and more MPs think she could replace the PM at No.10. Rudd is clever, down-to-earth and fun. And deadly, when required, as in her zinger that Boris Johnson “isn’t the man you want driving you home”. Between them, she and her well-connected lobbyist brother Roland know everyone who matters.

Diane Abbott

Shadow Home Secretary

Abbott is a deeply influential “conscience” among the Corbynistas. A phone call to Corbyn from Abbott, for example, got him to dump a pre-briefed speech for curbs on free movement. The two go way back — and have mutual respect. As the first black female MP, Abbott is an iconic figure — but her radio interviews are prone to gaffes.

Andrew Adonis

Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission

Son of a waiter from Cyprus, Lord Adonis keeps on serving up landmark reform for Britain. The peer chairs the National Infrastructure Commission revolutionising the delivery of major projects. A champion of a Heathrow third runway, he was Institute for Government director, an ex-Labour Transport Secretary and led the Blair education reform. A giant intellect, with a razor-sharp ability to cut through Whitehall inertia.

Tim Barrow

UK Permanent Representative to the European Union

It was Sir Tim who delivered the Article 50 letter on March 29 in Brussels triggering Britain’s departure from the EU. Renowned for his Savile Row suits, he has had a distinguished diplomatic career, including serving as British ambassador to Moscow. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hailed him as a “respected diplomat who will get the best deal for the UK”. So, no pressure...

Gavin Barwell

Theresa May’s Chief-of-Staff

The British answer to House of Cards’ Doug Stamper is just as quiet and omnipresent, but unlike his dark fictional counterpart, Barwell is widely liked. He gets into No.10 from 5am daily, and is said to attend every meeting that May attends. The former Croydon Central MP wrote a book, How to Win a Marginal Seat: My Year Fighting for my Political Life, which is a must-read for aspiring politicians. He lost his highly marginal seat on June 8, only to be brought into No.10 to organise Mrs May’s fightback.

John Bercow

Speaker of the House of Commons

Despite endless plotting by Tory MPs and a full-blown bid to topple him, Bercow was returned unopposed as Speaker after the June election, becoming the first Speaker since the Second World War to be re-elected to the post three times. A determined moderniser, he upset some traditionalists by ruling in the summer heat that MPs no longer have to wear ties in the Chamber.

Tony Blair

Former Prime Minister

Announcing his return to the British political stage to combat Brexit, the ex-premier said: “You need to get your hands dirty and I will.” Some say his hands have not yet been washed clean from the 2003 Iraq invasion but there is no denying the electric tremor his return caused, with talk of a new third party in gestation. The best politician of his generation will always get an audience.

Karen Bradley

Culture Secretary

This West Midlands mum-of-two grew up above a pub and has gone on to become one of May’s most-trusted colleagues and friends. With an expanded departmental brief to cover digital, she is leading a successful campaign to make the UK the safest place in the world for young people to go online. Her ideas fed directly into the party manifesto and, to her credit, digital policy is one area to survive the election post mortem.

Graham Brady

Chairman 1922 Backbench Committee

When his name comes up on Theresa May’s mobile, she could quite understandably feel a frisson of panic. For as chairman of the influential Tory backbench 1922 committee, Brady is likely to have a key say in when May’s time is up and she is asked to fall on her sword. An influential figure, he represents rank-and-file Conservative MPs and will make sure their voice is heard.

Dawn Butler

Shadow Minister for Diverse Communities

Butler became Jeremy Corbyn’s warm-up act during the election campaign. Just two years after being re-elected to represent Brent, she attends shadow cabinet as shadow minister for diverse communities. She was the UK’s first Afro-Caribbean female minister in the last Labour government. Recently, she asked in the Commons, using sign language, a question about giving British Sign Language legal status.

Vince Cable

Liberal Democrat Leader

Aged 74, the Liberal Democrat comeback kid waltzed back into the Commons with a majority of nearly 10,000 at the election. The Strictly Come Dancing performer played down talk of taking over as leader but other contenders fell away and the job was his. Tuition fees may still dog the former Business Secretary but Sir Vince is a more authoritative voice on Brexit than Tim Farron.

Greg Clark

Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Seen as a safe pair of hands in Whitehall, intellectual with a working-class background Clark needed all his calmness to defuse Chinese anger after No.10 delayed giving the go-ahead to a new Hinkley Point nuclear power plant. He found himself at the centre of bizarre reshuffle chaos last summer when as well as being appointed Business Secretary, he was mistakenly made President of the Board of Trade for four days. He will be crucial in protecting business post-Brexit.

Ken Clarke

Father of the House

The cuddly image suggested by his recently acquired title as “father of the house” has been undermined as Clarke cuts an increasingly exasperated figure. An MP since 1970, age certainly hasn’t tempered the former Chancellor as he watches his party’s ongoing Brexit battles. He believes Theresa May has to stay in her post — there is no prospect of her being replaced by anyone sensible — and that Boris Johnson should immediately be sacked for his public disloyalty.

Yvette Cooper

Chairwoman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee

Cooper has led condemnation of trolling and other vile abuse of MPs and journalists including BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg. She was re-elected unopposed as chairwoman of the powerful Commons home affairs select committee and has campaigned for Britain to take more Syrian child refugees. Since voters sent her husband Ed Balls waltzing off the Westminster stage, she has double-stepped up as a politician.

Jeremy Corbyn

Labour Leader

Jeremy Corbyn (Jeremy Selwyn)
Jeremy Corbyn (Jeremy Selwyn)

The chant “Ohhh, Je-re-my Corbyn” was the political anthem of the summer, from Glastonbury to Canterbury. In two years, Corbyn has transformed the Labour Party, pulling in tens of thousands of new members and empowering them. Then the poll-defying “Corbyn surge” on June 8 defined the general election, destroying Theresa May’s authority. Suddenly the idea of Prime Minister Corbyn is no longer a laughing matter. Not bad for a bearded Leftie who was allowed to stand for leader only because Labour MPs never dreamed he stood a chance.

Stella Creasy

Labour Backbencher

This bright London backbencher brings about real change in politics in super-quick time. This year she won praise for an excellently timed motion to the Queen’s Speech on abortion rights for Northern Irish women. Government policy changed within just 24 hours. She remains dignified while enduring abuse and a death threat from pro-life activists. “That’s dumb doctor blonde bitch to you,” she corrected one troll.

Tulip Siddiq

Labour MP for Hampstead & Kilburn

Tulip Siddiq (Daniel Hambury: Stella Pictures)
Tulip Siddiq (Daniel Hambury: Stella Pictures)

It takes a lot to upstage veteran actress Glenda Jackson, the local Labour MP for decades, but her successor Tulip Siddiq managed it. She increased her majority to an impressive 15,560 in June’s election, months after resigning from the frontbench after opposing the triggering of Article 50. She is well-liked as a member of her local community and, most recently, has spoken out on proposed changes to passport systems after being detained at the airport while travelling with her daughter with a different surname.

Ruth Davidson

Leader of Scottish Conservative Party

Yes, there is a Tory leader who can win seats and thrill voters while being positive about the EU and immigrants. But Davidson, a kick-boxing, gay former army reservist, has broken many moulds in her 38 years. John Major’s former Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth once said, admiringly, that she had the balls of Margaret Thatcher. Davidson ruled herself out as a future leader at Westminster — we shall see — but she could well be a kingmaker who helps transform the Conservative brand.

David Davis

Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

Diarist Alan Clark recounted how DD strolled across “the Black Run” — a dangerously high battlement of Saltwood Castle — with hands in pockets, whistling. Perfect training for the tightrope drama of Brexit, perhaps. The one-time Monsieur Non has shown a pragmatic streak of late. He also finds himself deferred to by a stricken PM and favourite to succeed her if she goes quickly. Insouciant and macho, the former SAS reservist is enjoying an Indian summer that shows no sign of ending.

Nigel Dodds

Democratic Unionist Party leader in the Commons

This Cambridge-educated barrister and member of the Orange Order leads the DUP’s MPs in the Commons. Admired by his party for his tenacious work ethic, Dodds was pivotal in securing the confidence and supply agreement, and ensuring Arlene Foster still had her moment in the sun.

Michael Fallon

Defence Secretary

As the Tories shot themselves in the foot during the election with spectacular regularity, Theresa May repeatedly turned to her trusted general Sir Michael Fallon to try to rescue the day. Calm under fire from Labour, the Defence Secretary led many attacks on Jeremy Corbyn. He proved old-school skills, ruthlessness and guile are still needed in the social media age.

Andrew Fisher

Head of Policy in Jeremy Corbyn’s office

He sits in the outer office of Jeremy Corbyn’s suite with a handful of the most trusted aides like Karie Murphy. Fisher, an ex-union official, was the key author of the 2017 manifesto and Corbyn took trouble to thank him in front of the shadow cabinet. “He is the policy brains of the operation,” says an ally.

Arlene Foster

Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party

Northern Ireland’s former first minister arrived on the British political scene just hours after May’s election result, with a stoicism honed from 25 years of dealing with republican politicians. She kept a dignified silence throughout criticism of her party then kept the Conservatives waiting for nearly two weeks for an agreement. The ultimate political game player, she walked away with an incredible £1 billion investment for the province.

Lucy Frazer

MP for South East Cambridgeshire

The gifted Tory from the ambitious 2015 intake is a former president of the Cambridge Union, a successful commercial barrister, and became a QC at just 40. She is married to David Leigh, boss of education giant Study Group. Footsure without arrogance, she is a dead cert for ministerial promotion. In her maiden speech, she managed to upset some Scots with a joke about making them slaves — which only boosted her in the eyes of Tory colleagues.

David Gauke

Work and Pensions Secretary

A Cabinet colleague muses that Gauke is “like John Major: disliked by nobody, keeps his head down — so perfect to become Tory leader”. Finally uncorked from the Treasury after seven years, he now leads the biggest spending department. With a razor-sharp mind for figures and calm demeanour, he is the ultimate “safe pair of hands” and a vital member of the Cabinet. He is also blessed with a wit and after-dinner presence the envy of senior colleagues.

Robbie Gibb

Director of Communications, 10 Downing Street

Gibb gave up a glittering BBC career to become Theresa May’s spin chief in her darkest hours. He was on the receiving end of Tory ire while working for moderniser Francis Maude in the toxic early Noughties. At the Beeb he was Andrew Neil’s producer, between them staging some of the most forensic political interviews. Brother Nick Gibb is schools minister. Likeable and smart, can Robbie save the Titanic?

Michael Gove

Environment Secretary

Back at the Cabinet table, the most polite assassin in politics has lost no time reinventing himself as a green enthusiast. Gove has one of the finest intellects on the Tory benches. His thumbs-up snap with Donald Trump was a cheeky coup that he might prefer to forget. He takes Brexit personally, saying his adoptive father’s fishing business was filleted by EU policies.

Damian Green

First Secretary of State

In a remarkable political comeback, Green jumped from Tory backbenches to the PM’s right-hand man in less than a year. Theresa May turned to her old friend as she clung to power. They are Oxford University contemporaries, became MPs in 1997 and shortly afterwards did the shadow education brief. An ex-TV financial journalist, Green was a Home Office minister when she was in charge there. The two have ideological differences but he is a trusted ally, and she does not have many of them.

Justine Greening

Education Secretary

Post-election — in which her majority was slashed — Greening took control of her department’s finances, diverting £1.3 billion away from free schools to make school budgets fairer. Relieved that she no longer has to campaign for grammar schools and much-loved by Whitehall staff for her warmth, she also won the admiration of pupils when she told a schools forum that coming out as a lesbian was the “best thing” she’s ever done.

Dominic Grieve

Conservative Backbencher

Now on the backbenches, the former Attorney-General has become one of the chief opponents to the government’s Brexit strategy. With a long legal career behind him, Grieve is one of the few Parliamentarians who knows what a Henry VIII clause actually entails, endeavouring to point out its legal flaws and to protect citizens’ rights. As he says, Brexit is a revolution, “and the trouble with revolutions is you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next”.

Philip Hammond

Chancellor of the Exchequer

Ignore the label “reassuringly dull”, as the Chancellor is excitingly on manoeuvres. Hammond is actually one of the most engaging and thoughtful Cabinet members. He’s dry as dust on public finances and pragmatic about Brexit — qualities needed in chaotic times. Clever, self-made and wealthy from a career that spanned property, oil and gas, manufacturing and healthcare.

Matt Hancock

Minister for Digital, Department of Culture, Media and Sport

As a culture minister, Hancock has engaged in exhaustive research, bagging tickets for events ranging from Verdi’s Rigoletto to School Of Rock. An economist by training, he learned about digital growth working in his father’s software company. But his souped-up brief also covers broadband, broadcasting, creative industries, cyber and the tech industry. At 39, he could near the top — befitting the only MP in modern times to win a horse race as a jockey at Newmarket.

Meg Hillier

Chairwoman of Commons Public Accounts Committee

With growing confidence, Hillier is increasingly chastising the Government for public spending blunders or delays, reprimanding the Health Department recently over why its accounts had not been published, voicing astonishment that some hi-tech clusters in London still don’t have fast-speed broadband, and condemning the failure to build more homes.

Sajid Javid

Communities and Local Government Secretary

Javid helped contain the political crisis after the Grenfell tragedy by forcing out the council’s chief executive and leader. A blue-collar Tory from a tough comprehensive, he made a personal fortune as a banker, then made his name as a Treasury minister. His chic wife Laura got him to shave his head, ruling that hairless is more sexy.

Boris Johnson

Foreign Secretary

A year after being left for dead by Michael Gove, the former Mayor of London is again gathering supporters as a future leader by setting out “red lines” and getting the Manchester conference cheering. But no minister has more knives aimed at his back, as rivals plot how to keep him out of the top two in any Tory leadership contest. Backing Brexit last year cost Boris many admirers in London — but a mix of chaos and intrigue keeps his grassroots fans on the edges of their seats.

Jon Lansman

Founder of Momentum

A veteran Bennite, he has been friends with Jeremy Corbyn since the Eighties. Now he runs the powerful Momentum faction, which terrifies centrist Labour MPs nervous of deselection (though some owe their majorities to busloads of Momentum activists) and was branded “hard-Left” by Tom Watson. Lansman once stood for Cambridge Union president on a slate with Andrew Marr.

Ian Lavery

Labour Party Chair

A former president of the fading National Union of Mineworkers, the Left-winger was the only apprentice in his region who refused to work in the 1984 strike. He has several arrests on his CV (including one at a football match) but is valued by Jeremy Corbyn for the tight focus he brings to meetings. He attends all summits of the inner circle and happily parks his tanks on deputy leader Tom Watson’s lawn.

Rebecca Long Bailey

Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Becky (as John McDonnell approvingly calls her) holds a key brief — vital to the unions and economic strategy. The daughter of a docker, she worked in a pawn shop and other dead-end jobs before studying to be a solicitor. A die-hard Corbynista, she is being talked up as the chosen heir to his bicycle clips.

Theresa May

Prime Minister

Theresa May (Getty Images)
Theresa May (Getty Images)

In office, but barely in power. Stripped of authority, the “dead woman walking” is a prisoner of warring Cabinet factions. Having squandered David Cameron’s majority in June, she had to stuff her Government with enemies to survive and to pay Danegeld to the antediluvian DUP. Everyone — except for her — agrees on one thing: she will not lead the Tories into the next election.

John McDonnell

Shadow Chancellor

Where Jezza exudes sweetness, his closest ally oozes menace and cunning. McDonnell, says an insider, is “at the absolute strategic heart of the Corbyn project”. The veteran poll tax rebel is perfectly at home with the Momentum army. Toe-curling gaffes like quoting Mao and praising IRA bombers did him no favours — but the shadow chancellor is an amateur sailor, a sport that teaches patience as well as risk-taking.

Len McCluskey

Unite General Secretary

A power behind the throne, McCluskey saved Jeremy Corbyn from being ousted as Labour leader before the election. If “Red Len” had withdrawn his giant Unite union’s support, Corbyn would have been a goner. The millions that Unite pumps into Labour coffers gives the union huge sway. Union official Gerard Coyne who challenged McCluskey for the leadership was later dismissed.

Johnny Mercer

Conservative Backbencher

Johnny Mercer (I Images)
Johnny Mercer (I Images)

The telegenic former army officer is among a new Tory generation that has their elders nervously looking over their shoulders. Mercer is building a strong media profile as eloquent on attacking Brexit as he is defending rank-and-file troops from defence cuts or ambulance-chasing lawyers. He claims never to have even voted before entering Parliament but has quickly marked himself out as a natural politician.

Seumas Milne

Labour’s Director of Strategy and Communications

Not a chummy PR man, more the chief politruk of Corbyn’s revolution-in-waiting. The Wykehamist scion of a BBC director-general sits at the heart of every strategic Labour decision. Lobby hacks dismiss him as an incompetent briefer — but June’s election seemed to vindicate his belief that social media can sometimes trump the MSM.

Nicky Morgan

Treasury Select Committee Chair

This capable arch-Remainer holds one of the most powerful jobs in Parliament — scrutinising Brexit. She is a key player in shaping Britain’s exit from the European Union and having unexpectedly won one of the most powerful committee jobs, commands respect from across the Commons.

Karie Murphy

Chief of Staff, Leader of the Opposition’s Office

Murphy is a political force majeure who does the backroom skull-cracking and shin-kicking so Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t have to. A pal of Leftie union boss Len McCluskey, she was at the heart of the Falkirk selection scandal but later cleared of any wrongdoing. Now she organises the Corbynistas and, whispers an admirer, imposes Jezza’s will “in a concrete way”.

Priti Patel

International Development Secretary

The steely Thatcherite calls herself “a no-bullshit person” and revealed her ambition by saying in her conference speech that some of the best leaders are small in stature. She got into politics after being spotted by Cecil Parkinson working in her parents’ shop at 17. Her rise helped attract thousands of voters of Indian heritage to the Tory torch.

Angela Rayner

Shadow Education Secretary

Corbyn believes Rayner has the potential to transform education in the UK with the gusto with which Nye Bevan established the National Health Service. A valued member of the Labour leadership, she passionately fought for her “cradle to grave” education plans to remain undiluted in the party’s manifesto. Her push for free nursery, university and adult education won the party thousands of votes.

Anna Soubry

Conservative Backbencher

Soubry has been a courageous cheerleader for Tories who refuse to take Brexit lying down. She’s the first from her party to formally work with Labour on EU withdrawal by forming a new Parliamentary group with Chuka Umunna. She was also one of the first to sound the death knell on May’s premiership post-election. “It’s bad,” she told reporters, bleary-eyed from a sports centre in Broxtowe.

Keir Starmer

Shadow Brexit Secretary

The former director of public prosecutions arrived in Parliament in 2015 with a huge reputation to live up to and Sir Keir’s star has risen after he took over as shadow Brexit secretary. He has fought his corner to try to avoid a Labour shambles on Brexit and warned against mandatory re-selection for MPs. A good bet for the next leadership race, provided he does not stumble due to his limited, yet growing, political experience.

Nicola Sturgeon

Scottish First Minister

The bubble burst for Sturgeon at the election, with the SNP losing more than a third of its seats, and her dream of a second independence referendum appear to have evaporated. But don’t underestimate the steely Scot’s determination. Especially over Brexit, she will fight Scotland’s corner with fearless fervour.

Rishi Sunak

Conservative Backbencher

An effervescent star of the future with charm and good manners, Sunak is as adept at conversing in global finance and business as he is talking to farmers at an auction mart in his ultra-safe Richmond, Yorkshire, seat. Married to the daughter of one of India’s richest men, he airs his Brexit views with a cosmopolitan fervour that marks him out from the party’s Right-wingers.

Emily Thornberry

Shadow Foreign Secretary

The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standard’s celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000
The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standard’s celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000

Taunted by political opponents as “Lady Nugee” (she’s married to judge Sir Christopher Nugee), Thornberry emerged as one of Labour’s strongest election acts and is now tipped as a future leader by the Unite union. She dismissed a claim by Sir Michael Fallon about her Falklands stance as “bollocks” on TV. Brought up on a council estate, she explains: “I have never been a Lady and it will take a great deal more than being married to a Knight of the Realm in order to make me one.”

Tom Tugendhat

Chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee

Learned Arabic in Yemen while doing a masters in Islamics at Cambridge University, worked as a journalist in Beirut and joined the territorial army while an energy analyst in the City. He served as an Arabic-speaking intelligence officer with the Royal Marines in the Iraq War, and also in Afghanistan, doing his last patrol in July 2009. Back in the UK, he became principal adviser to the Chief of the Defence Staff.

Chuka Umunna

Labour Backbencher

His leadership hopes are on ice, but Umunna is one of the key figures in the bare-knuckle battle to drag Brexit out of the grip of the Tory Right. Ultra-chic, the former lawyer and occasional DJ is a skilled communicator who cannot be ruled out of contention for Labour’s top job.

Tom Watson

Labour Deputy Leader

Back at Glastonbury this summer, Watson could enjoy the music without having to dash back to London as happened last year when there was an attempted coup to remove Jeremy Corbyn as leader. Watson had his wings clipped after Corbyn defied electoral expectations. But Corbynistas would be unwise to dismiss Labour’s deputy leader as no longer wielding power.

Gavin Williamson

Chief Whip

“Cronus is a perfect example of an incredibly clean, ruthless killer,” Williamson says of the pet tarantula he keeps in the Whips Office who is named after the Greek god who castrated his own father and ate his own children. Williamson himself earned the nickname “baby-faced assassin”, reportedly for tough business decisions when working in the pottery industry. With growing influence, he signed the £1 billion deal with the DUP to prop up May in No.10.