Labour MP Jess Phillips has dismissed suggestions she could stand for the party leadership, saying it is “too soon” to put herself forward.
But the MP for Birmingham Yardley said she could consider standing if the party wanted her to do the job.
She was responding after the leadership issue was raised by Channel 4 News journalist Cathy Newman in an interview.
Labour suffered a major defeat in the Copeland by-election last week, when it lost a seat it previously held to the Conservatives.
And Labour Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer has admitted Labour appears on course to lose the next general election. He told journalists at Westminster: “The loss in Copeland was really serious, I don’t think some of the reasons put forward are compelling . . . If things don’t improve there is no prospect of Labour winning the general election.”
Ms Phillips, who became an MP in 2015, was asked if she would stand for the leadership if Labour lost another by-election.
She laughed and responded: “This is what everybody always asks me. I think maybe it’s a little bit too soon for me to be the leader of the Labour Party.
“But I think that the Labour Party needs to look at exactly what it needs at the moment, and if it came up with me as its answer then I suppose I’d have to think about it.
“But I think we are a long way off that yet.”
The MP has published a book called Everywoman, One Woman’s Truth About Speaking the Truth, in which she talks about her life before becoming an MP and the state of politics today.
She states in the book that Labour is not ready for a female leader.
She writes: “Pundits ask me often if I would like to be the leader of the Labour Party, and at the moment the answer is simply that there is absolutely no chance.
“I was born a girl child.
“While it’s very nice to have been heralded by some as a candidate, I still think that the party - despite appearances - isn’t ready for a female leader.”
She goes on to say: “It’s identity is so steeped in the idea of the class struggle between the haves and the have-nots that it often can’t see past the end of its currently very bloody nose.
“Women are still considered window dressing.”
