MY JERICHO
Layla Moran
Unplugged
This meeting was held on November 21, 2019
What makes a politician? Who do they think they are? In the beautiful setting of St Barnabas Church fifty people had the chance to see the for themselves in a special My Jericho session with Layla Moran unplugged on November 21st
Talkative, exuding charm the outgoing MP for Oxford West and Abingdon ‘went personal’ describing her family and her life before politics to the paying audience. Her mother is Palestinian, from another Jericho-on the West Bank of the River Jordan, her father was a diplomat travelling the world, often with his family in tow.
The family moved around when she was a child: to Brussels then Ethiopia then Greece then Jamaica when Layla was eleven . “The schools were terrible. I was bullied because I was white.” From there she moved to board at Roedean, the top girls’ school in England, which taught her that women can do whatever they want. “I am very much a citizen of nowhere’ as Theresa May put it.” she said.
Her Palestinian roots are apparent in her views on the Middle East. Moran is convinced that a two-state solution is attainable in the Middle East on the pre-1967 borders of Israel. “I really dislike the argument that recognition [of Palestinian statehood] should be held back to be used as a carrot.”
Her biggest problem growing up was her size and weight. They have affected her much of her life. At one point she was up to 19 stone. Obese with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 41.She says it has roots in her family. “There’s clearly a genetic link’.
Her weight problems really started to affect her when she was confined to a wheelchair for four months with a broken leg. Eventually she had bariatric surgery and lost nearly half her body weight. “The best decision I ever made.” With weight and body image issues came depression and Prozac.
Layla made it to the Imperial College in London to study Physics-one of only five women in a course of 300. She abandoned ideas of research (“too male dominated”) for her “first love”, teaching. She then taught at the International Schools in Brussels and London until that one was taken over by the controversial former head of Ofsted, Chris Woodhead. She strongly opposed his introduction of performance-related pay. “I walked. I couldn’t deal with it. I was the first to go.”
From there to a PGCE at Brunel and part time teaching in Oxford at a private tutorial college. . “I was going to move here anyway.” She claimed.A Masters at the Institute of Education “That’s how I became politicised.” That led to Layla being put on the leadership programme within the Liberal Democrats
In December 2012 she was selected as the prospective Oxford West and Abingdon parliamentary candidate, the seat held until two years before by Dr Evan Harris for the Lib Dems.
By then her party was in a Coalition government with David Cameron’s Conservatives. It was not all plain sailing for her. “I found the coalition very difficult. I nearly left over tuition fees. I thought, ‘My goodness, we are making a big mistake here.’”
In 2010,strong opposition to the Iraq war had won the Lib Dems more than fifty seats in Parliament for the first time in decades. Right for the wrong reasons Clegg and the Lib Dems compromised too much and paid the price in public trust.
The Coalition fell apart in the 2015 election as David Cameron ate up his opponent’s seats. Clegg fell as leader , followed by Tim Farron, V ince Cable and more recently Jo Swinson elected earlier this year.By now.Layla was in Parliament having surprisingly won the seat in the 2017 Election. She was tipped to run the leadership against Swinson but declined. She is now, not surprisingly the party education spokesman actively fighting to retain her seat in this election. She would, she says, be devastated if she loses.
Her campaign team had been assembled for the 2015 election when she lost to Nicola Blackwood for the Tories. A crucial moment in 2017 came when she met the local Greens in a pub in Abingdon and persuaded them not to contest the Oxford West.Her task was not easy. There was a lot of anger for example at a Lib Dem flyer linking the Greens to animal-rights activists.
She left convinced she had failed, but in fact the meeting voted to back her. “Labour members canvassed for me as well although they couldn’t tell anyone.” She has since found common ground with Labour in Parliament on social justice. “Embracing diversity and all that stuff.”in her words.
Layla enjoys the sense of helping people at constituency surgeries and sitting on the key Public Accounts Committee in the Commons and speaking up on such issues as mental health spending.
Her owb Jericho was very close to home .She was living in Waterways in Jericho at the time of the 2016 Brexit referendum. The result did not go down well. “I cried for days. So, so terrible. I’m a global citizen.”
Here we go again on the Electoral merry go round What is she hearing? “There is a loathing of Boris Johnson on the doorstep – I think this man is dangerous.” Of the Tory online ‘fake news’ gambits she says, “This is out of Putin’s playbook.”
In Kidlington and Abingdon-‘traditional Labour’ on the other hand, there is distrust of Jeremy Corbyn.
The prospects for her re-election look good. The ‘Leave’ candidates, James Fredrickson for the Conservatives and Allison Wild of the Brexit Party, seem hopelessly out of tune with the electorate. Rosie Sourbut a Somerville College undergraduate is putting up an enthusiastic challenge for Labour.
But, as long as Oxford sees itself as a flying island detached from the country to which it is, however reluctantly, attached, Layla Moran is likely to be returned.
In person she comes across as sincere and straightforward. Perhaps it’s easy to be idealistic in opposition. Not yet tempted by compromise.Unplugged and very pleasant.A smiler.
Additional reporting; Roger Howe
Report by: John Mair. Additional reporting by Roger Howe
My Jericho offers a series of independent events organized by Jericho resident John Mair. Many are at at St Barnabas. Others are streamed on YouTube.
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