Background
Phillips was born on 9 October 1981 in Birmingham, England.
Phillips was born on 9 October 1981 in Birmingham, England.
She studied Economic and Social History/Social Policy at the University of Leeds between 2000 and 2003. Between 2011 and 2013, she studied a postgraduate diploma in Public Sector Management at the University of Birmingham.
Prior to her election as an Member of Parliament, Phillips worked as a business development manager at a domestic and sexual abuse charity and before then at an events company within the health sector. Phillips was also a barmaid and claims to have been groped innumerable times during her time in that position. Local councillor
In the 2012 local elections, she was elected as a Labour councillor for Longbridge ward, taking the seat from the Conservatives.
She also served on the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel.
She made her maiden speech on 28 May 2015, highlighting the issue of homelessness. In the 2015 Labour leadership election, Phillips nominated Yvette Cooper for leader and Tom Watson for deputy leader.
Her media profile was raised first by the Huffington Post, in an interview with Owen Bennett published in July 2015. In response to a question about her childhood ambition she said that her aim had been to become Prime Minister.
In September the Huffington Post published Phillips account of a row with fellow Member of Parliament Diane Abbott about the gender composition of Corbyn"s first shadow cabinet:
"Talking to The Huffington Post United Kingdom, Ms Phillips, who despite being elected in May has already earned a reputation for being one of the most outspoken MPs, said: “I roundly told her to fuck official” When asked what Ms Abbott did after that suggestion, Ms Phillips replied: “She fucked official”"
In September 2015 she was appointed by new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lucy Powell, the Shadow Education Secretary.
In October 2015, Phillips was allegedly subjected to rape threats on social media after she opposed proposals by Conservative Member of Parliament Philip Davies to hold a debate in Parliament on issues affecting men in observance of International Men"s Day. Phillips advocates a third option of "X" as a gender in documents, for people who identify as neither male nor female. In January 2016, Phillips said on Question Time that events akin to the mass sexual assaults in Cologne happened every week on Birmingham"s Broad Street.
Her remarks provoked widespread criticism and calls to resign, and local police denied her claims.
She was then appointed as the victims champion for Birmingham City Council, lobbying police and criminal justice organisations on behalf of victims. Foreign the 2015 general election, Labour required a swing of 3.7% to take the seat, and after a swing of 11.7% Phillips achieved a majority of 6,595 or 16% of votes cast.
Phillips was selected to contest Birmingham Yardley in June 2013, a constituency at the time represented by John Hemming of the Liberal Democrats who in 2010 held the seat with a 3,002 majority.
56th United Kingdom Parliament]
Member of Parliament.
