Angela Rayner is among those having to cancel their Glastonbury plans this weekend after Labour bosses told staff that nobody can take time off for the festival.
The party’s deputy leader was scheduled to speak at the festival’s Left Field stage, as was fellow Labour MP Nadia Whittome.
With the party into the final week of campaigning before the general election on July 4, an insider told The Independent that nobody has been allowed to make the trip to Worthy Farm to see the likes of Coldplay, Dua Lipa, SZA and Shania Twain perform despite Labour’s solid lead in the opinion polls.
They said there’s a “three-line whip” on staff not to go to Glastonbury, with staff being redeployed to key marginal seats in a bid to increase the party’s majority. “Now the manifesto is done there is less for people to do here and we need boots on the ground in target seats,” The Independent was told on a visit to Labour headquarters.
It’s a far cry from 2017, when former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke to a massive crowd on the Pyramid Stage. But it’s not just Labour MPs who are dropping out. Caroline Lucas, the former Green Party leader, is standing down as MP for Brighton Pavilion in the election but has been campaigning for her successor, and has cancelled a Glastonbury appearance too.
“Late last year when we began planning this year’s Left Field at @GlastoFest, we thought it would be a good idea to invite a number of Labour MPs, given that there was a strong chance that they might be in power by the end of the year,” said Billy Bragg, who organises the stage, on Instagram.
“We had more or less confirmed one for each panel when [Rishi] Sunak called the election. Understandably, MPs feel they need to be out campaigning on the last weekend before the ballot, so the panels team led by Rosie Rogers has been working hard to find suitable replacements.”
Bragg told NME earlier this week (June 25), “When we sat down to focus on what we needed to talk about this year, it helped us that the election was coming and to sprinkle the panels with Labour MPs who might actually be in government next year; people like Angela Rayner.”
Before Rayner had to pull out, he said he expected her to get a great welcome from festivalgoers given the pressure she’s been under: “The Daily Mail’s front page, after the Tories absolutely got absolutely their arses kicked in the local elections, was about Angela Rayner again. It’s total sexist bullying. It’s not just her – Diane Abbott is the most abused MP across all parties. I think Angela Rayner will get a huge response when she comes to the Left Field … We try to get politicians who are festival-friendly and put on a good show.”
Glastonbury Festival began yesterday (June 26) and continues until Sunday (June 30). Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA are set to headline the Pyramid Stage, with Shania Twain taking the legend’s slot. Other artists on the line-up include LCD Soundsystem, Little Simz, Avril Lavigne, Idles, Justice, Bloc Party, Disclosure and Gossip.
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