Once Byrned, twice shy?

Paul Bryan

The upcoming council by-election in Everton Ward (April 7th) has thrown up an interesting wrinkle. Labour’s candidate is a certain Ellie Byrne – a young woman in her early twenties who until recently we’d never heard of.

She keeps a fairly low profile on social media and there’s not much online to suggest she’s previously made a mark as an activist. Yet here she is standing for political office in one of the poorest wards in the country. And being Labour’s candidate in a one-horse, red-rose town, she’s almost certain to win. Which begs the question, who is she? And how did she win the nomination to represent Labour?

Let’s be honest about what caught our attention here. It’s that surname – Byrne. Sounds familiar. And it should because it’s also name of the previous incumbent, Ian Byrne, who announced his resignation at a feisty town hall meeting in January, which triggered this by-election. Ian Byrne is of note for two reasons. Firstly, because he is Ian ‘Two Jobs’ Byrne - the Everton councillor who also became the MP for Liverpool West Derby at the 2019 general election and who broke electoral convention and the rules of good sense by refusing to step down for over two years from his council position. He obviously felt the citizens of Everton and the citizens of West Derby needed him that badly that he had to represent them both. Lucky them.

The other reason why Ian Byrne is of note is because he is Ellie Byrne’s dad, although you wouldn’t know it by looking at any of Labour’s campaign materials. They and the Liverpool Echo which reported her selection are steering well clear of revealing the truth of their relationship as confirmed by residents who have been paid a visit by the Labour team. So what we have here, for clarity is the prospect of a father handing over the baton of office in his electoral ward to his young daughter, as if it was some kind of private enterprise. Now to be fair, there is going to be an election which has to be won, and Liverpool, it must be said, has a long history of keeping it in the family and I’m not talking about the propensity of Andersons (not related). A quick flick through the history books reveals a host of siblings, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters, cousins and aunts who have been regular suckers of the proverbial town hall teat. Peter Kilfoyle’s book, ‘Left Behind’ is very good on this topic.

What do we know about her? From her Facebook profile we know she’s partial to Cadbury’s Cream Eggs, Hannah Montana, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians and for some reason likes Justin Bieber High School.

But still, does it pass the smell test? Given everything that we’ve recently learned about mismanagement and suspected corruption, after the police investigations and arrests, and Labour’s own Hanson Report into what it found to be a ‘toxic culture’ within the Liverpool Labour Group, wouldn’t you bend over backwards to avoid even giving the slightest impression of impropriety or self-serving?  Wouldn’t a genuine sense of civic duty demand it?

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Still, this could all be cleared up really easily. An interview with the candidate herself would be the chance for her to make her case and show what she’s made of. To show that she’s got here under her own steam. Because maybe she has. But sadly, the Labour Party are not letting her off the leash. No interviews allowed. Such a stance doesn’t breed confidence.

Liverpolitan spoke to Sheila Murphy, who was appointed by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to oversee the clean-up of the Liverpool Labour group. She was not having it.

“You’re not the only person wanting to speak to Ellie and there’s a bit of a story developing which I think is unfair. Ellie has been a member of the Labour Party for some time and is active in her community. She was selected by Everton members as part of a rigorous process based on her own ability but there won’t be any interviews.”

Sheila was keen to get across the message that Ellie was one of two young candidates (the other standing in Warbreck) and that if the Labour Party was to reinvigorate itself “these are just the kind of people we need to represent us.”

It’s certainly true that Ellie’s candidacy was supported by the official Labour Party apparatus. Following the Caller report, it was announced that candidate lists would be approved by the NEC at least until 2026. Everton ward members made their selection from a short-list that included Brian Dowling and Jean Barrett, both long-time party activists. Speaking to The Post, neither losing candidate had any complaints and positively glowed in their assessments of Ellie.  

But doubts still remain. What do we really know about her? She grew up locally, attending Our Lady Immaculate and Notre Dame schools. She claims to have worked in the L6 Community Centre at some point possibly assisting with her father’s foodbank campaigns such as Right to Food. Her spartan Linkedin profile says she graduated from Liverpool University in 2021 with a degree in Law and History. From her social media profile on Facebook we know she’s partial to Cadbury’s Cream Eggs, Hannah Montana, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians and for some reason likes Justin Bieber High School. We also know that she was once pictured standing next to her ever-present dad and Jeremy Corbyn and that she seems to like posting shots of her pouting to the camera although she doesn’t post much at all and she’s hard to find on Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok. What doesn’t shine out in any of the publicly available information is any kind of political heritage at all. Unless you include liking the Happy Pets app.

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Labour campaign leaflet for Ellie Byrne (Everton ward, March 2022)

None of which is definitely a deal-breaker. Social media is an unreliable tool at the best of times although it’s all we’ve got if she won’t talk to us. But if there’s more to her and she wants your vote, I think she owes it to the electorate to come into the sunlight and tell us what she really thinks in her own words. What she stands for, and what she believes. A campaign leaflet produced by the party machine won’t cut it. If nothing else she should do it to prove that she isn’t just her father’s mouthpiece. That she’s got a mind of her own and the ability to make a difference. Otherwise, the faithful are just being taken for a ride. Again.

Liverpolitan spoke to some of the other parties and candidates contesting the seat. Kevin Robinson-Hale of the Green Party was previously a Chair of Labour’s Everton branch before quitting in 2019, a man well-versed in the ways of the dominant party around here. Yet he seemed a bit reticent to open up, “I haven’t got an opinion on Ian and I don’t know Ellie”, he said. He just felt that Everton voters “shouldn’t get a candidate they’ve never heard of” and residents shouldn’t be forced to “go out of their way to try and get things done.” He was at pains to say that unlike others he wouldn’t be looking to use the council seat as a stepping stone to parliament.

We also heard from Local Lib Dem Leader, Richard Kemp, who was quick to shoot down any suggestions of nepotism. “Having relatives as a fellow councillor is not unusual,” he told us. “My wife served alongside me for 23 years.” Indeed. But then he performed an about-face, thundering into his keyboard “Labour now seems to favour the inherited system of power and patronage in Liverpool! What next? Baron Byrne of West Derby!?” Richard seemed particularly exercised that Ian Byrne had timed his resignation “to allow his daughter to reach 18”, a curious piece of factual inaccuracy given that as we pointed out earlier, Ellie is actually a university graduate going on 23 years old. That snippet I suspect was picked up from a recent email to Liverpool Council and the Government Commissioners into which he was cc’d from a ‘Ms Bett and Residents’ who are extremely exercised by the selection of Ellie as Labour’s candidate. Although, he may have picked it up from a separate anonymous email from ‘Labour Activists in Everton Ward’ who are equally infuriated. 

“Does Labour condone nepotism as a way to recruit councillor candidates?” they wrote. “To say we are startled by this information that the Candidate for this by-election is actually the daughter of the outgoing councillor is an understatement and we hope the National Labour Party if not the local Everton CLP rectify this situation before the election date to avoid a national scandal.”

Clearly, beneath the surface all is not calm in Everton ward and despite the efforts of Labour Party fixers, there appears to be considerable disquiet at Ellie’s selection at least amongst some of the group’s natural supporters. Right now, we’re left to wonder, what is it that makes Miss Byrne the perfect candidate to represent the interests of a ward which struggles with the basics of food and employment? Until, she speaks up we’ll never know. I guess the voters of Everton will just have to make up their own minds. But if the continual re-election of Malcolm ‘Milk'em’ Kennedy by neighbouring Kirkdale - who chose to live in Spain rather than in Liverpool - is anything to go by ... it looks like there will be few obstacles to Ellie Byrne enjoying a glittering political career, whether she’s up to the job or not. He may well have reluctantly stepped aside (three years after he perhaps should have done) but you can bet Ellie will be doing her best to keep the red flag flying, under the watchful guidance of Dad, Ian.

Paul Bryan is the Editor and Co-Founder of Liverpolitan. He is also a freelance content writer, script editor, communications strategist and creative coach.

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