Labour select yet another man for a top job as Steve Rotheram named as candidate for mayor of Liverpool City Region
Backlash against all-male list of mayoral nominees after Andy Burnham selected to fight election in Greater Manchester
LABOUR select yet another man for a top job as Steve Rotheram announced as its mayoral candidate in the Liverpool City Region.
The close ally of Jeremy Corbyn joins Andy Burnham and Sion Simon, who were selected to fight the metro mayor races in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, on an all-male list of nominees.
This is in addition to Sadiq Khan and Marvin Rees, Labour's already-elected male mayors in London and Bristol.
The party also has an all-male shortlist to be leader, with Owen Smith taking on Jeremy Corbyn after Angela Eagle dropped out, as well as men in the position of Deputy Leader and General Secretary.
It has also never had a permanent female leader, while the Conservatives have had two female Prime Ministers, a fact pointed out by Theresa May at her first Prime Minister's Questions.
A backlash began against Labour's all-male mayoral selections on social media, with MP Jess Phillips tweeting: "All the mayors can go on an actual man date now. We can serve the tea."
She posted another message. directed at Mr Corbyn, saying: "When I asked months ago if we could meet to talk about equality in mayoral race.
"Do you think you should have met with me?"
Fellow female Labour MP Alison McGovern tweeted yesterday after Mr Burnham and Mr Simon's selection, saying: "Was it something we said?"
Mr Rotheram, MP for Liverpool Walton, beat current elected mayor Joe Anderson and former frontbencher Luciana Berger to be selected to fight the election next year.
The former Lord Mayor of Liverpool, who is a parliamentary aide to the Labour leader, said he was "deeply honoured and humbled" to be picked and pledged to "stand up for ordinary people".
"I am extremely grateful to the thousands of party members who have chosen to place their trust in me and I am determined not to let them down," he said.
"I have travelled the length and breadth of our City Region and have spoken with people in every borough, from all walks of life, who share the same ambition as me - to build a City Region that utilises the energy, the talents, the ideas and the hopes of all our people, to transform the present and begin to shape its future, creating a more vibrant, more prosperous area.
"As metro mayor, I will put social justice at the heart of my administration; something which I've been passionate about all of my political career.
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"I'll stand up for ordinary people and be a real champion for Merseyside and Halton on the national and international stage.
"Devolution presents us with a unique opportunity to make decisions locally, in the interests of local people, to ensure each person within our six districts has the best chance in life."
Ms Berger was knocked out in the first round of voting, and congratulated Mr Rotheram - who went on to secure a comfortable win over Mr Anderson.
She tweeted to say she looked forward to campaigning alongside him ahead of next year's election.
After the result was announced Mr Corbyn said: "Congratulations to Steve Rotheram on being selected as Labour's candidate to take our message for social justice to the people of Merseyside.
"Steve is a tireless campaigner and advocate for the region, and as mayor would do everything possible to minimise the impact of Tory austerity."