Eddie Izzard, comedian and political activist. (Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)
Eddie Izzard, the genderfluid stand-up comedian and longtime Labour campaigner, has a simple mission: Become Britain’s first openly trans member of Parliament.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror newspaper, the 58-year-old is trading show business for politics as she branded premier Boris Johnson a “liar” and vowed to fight alongside opposition leader Keir Starmer.
While the lower house of Parliament’s 650 seats are packed with LGB+ lawmakers as a new wave of young queer politicians has been elected, Britain is still without its first trans or non-binary MP. 2019 marked the 57th consecutive general election with no openly transgender people elected.
Izzard is out to change that. “I wanted to stand in the last election [in 2019],” she explained, “but a seat wasn’t available – but I am here.
“I have been an activist since 2008, a member of the Labour Party since 1995.
“I wish to stand, I wish to be considered for a constituency, I would love to be elected and I would love to fight for Keir Starmer to be the next prime minister.
“I don’t trust Boris Johnson. He has lied upon lied and that is not a good example to our children, to say if you lie enough you can become prime minister.”
During historic pandemic, Eddie Izzard aims for a historic seat in the Commons
As the coronavirus pandemic jams people into homes and deepens divisions, Izzard said that the way COVID-19 has gnawed at normality motivated her to run for a seat in the House of Commons.
“It’s a time of great separation in our country and around the world,” she explained.
“But no, let’s make connections. In the time of COVID we must learn from each other, we must reach out, not have this separate thing.
“A fair chance in life should be the right of every person in the world.”
Izzard, who is currently carrying out a charity marathon challenge from a treadmill, would be picking up the mantle from the 10 trans and non-binary politicians who vied for the history-making Commons seat in the last general election.
While some struggled to shore up support in their constituencies, some of the politicians – four trans women and six non-binary people who stood for election across the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour – made gains from their previous stints in 2017.
Liberal Democrat Helen Belcher, who lost out to Conservative Michelle Donelan in Chippenham, swept up 34.5 per cent of the vote, a nine-point gain on 2017.