“Credit where it is due: Labour has had to challenge two of its core constituencies, universities and the public health/care system, and we will hear plenty of loud complaints from both over the coming weeks,” David Goodhart, head of demography, immigration and integration at the center-right Policy Exchange think tank, said after the publication of the immigration white paper on Monday.
Polar opposites
Cooper’s tendency to keep her cards close to her chest is noted by colleagues — and a clear contrast to the plain-speaking bloke-in-the-pub persona cultivated by Farage.
“She is a very serious career politician who doesn’t do ‘down the pub for a pint,’” one former colleague, who served on the House of Commons home affairs committee with her, said.
“She is completely mindful of her image. She is completely humorless,” the former colleague said, lamenting her committee Christmas parties as “not the biggest let your hair down in town.”
“A glass of cold chardonnay and a couple of Twiglets and bob’s your uncle,” the former colleague bemoaned.
But Shaw, the former adviser, says that while Cooper is “quite direct and business-like,” she has got a “real human side to her, and a brilliant sense of humor” with the “ability to laugh at herself.”