Jamie Driscoll: “Right, well, how are we going to make a stand?”
By Dan Bavister
As the May local elections approached last spring, the political landscape of the North East bristled with anticipation. The race for the newly unified North East Mayoralty promised to be a defining moment for the region, a contest laden with stakes that extended far beyond party lines. Amidst this backdrop, one figure stood apart—Jamie Driscoll, the former Mayor of the North of Tyne, who had been disqualified by Labour and was now mounting an independent bid for leadership.
For those of us in Durham, especially those who follow politics closely, the May local elections brought an undeniable energy to the air, charged with tension and anticipation. Jamie Driscoll’s decision to stand as an independent, after being blocked by Labour, ignited fierce debates across the region. To Labour loyalists I spoke to at the time, they told me his bid felt like a betrayal, threatening to fracture the left’s unity and risking the party’s grip on its traditional stronghold. But for Mr Driscoll’s many supporters, he was a symbol of defiance against Labour’s centralised politics, a leader who, they argued, prioritised principles over party lines. In community halls and online forums, these divisions played out, with one side lamenting the potential split of the progressive vote while the other celebrated a chance to reshape the North East’s political future. In Durham, the stakes felt deeply personal, as the contest became a battle over identity, conflicting loyalties, and the region’s direction.
You knew your neighbours, you helped each other. My mum was a trade unionist, and growing up seeing the miners’ strike, seeing the devastation on Teesside, it left a mark
I met Mr Driscoll in the bar of the Hotel Indigo. Over the low hum of conversation and the clinking of glasses, I found him as charismatic as he is uncompromising. When asked about his formative years, he shared stories of growing up in Middlesbrough during the 1970s and 80s—an experience that shaped his pragmatic, community-driven approach to politics. “I grew up with that experience of solidarity,” he said. “You knew your neighbours, you helped each other. My mum was a trade unionist, and growing up seeing the miners’ strike, seeing the devastation on Teesside, it left a mark. It was a world where hardship was met with resilience and where political awareness was born out of necessity. Mr Driscoll, unusually for a teenager, began reading economics books from the local library to make sense of the inequalities he saw around him. “In those days, we had libraries. We also had swimming pools and sports centres and things like that,” he noted, a nostalgic nod to the public infrastructure that shaped his youth.
Though he didn’t enter politics until his late forties, Mr Driscoll’s background as an engineer and software developer instilled a practical mindset that has defined his political career. “I’m someone who’s in politics to fix things,” he explained. This no-nonsense attitude has been a hallmark of his leadership. As Mayor of the North of Tyne, he set up a venture capital fund owned by the combined authority to create jobs rather than “giving it away to the private sector” and negotiated a devolution deal to secure funding and powers to overhaul the public transport system—a project he described as crucial for tackling climate change and improving quality of life in the region.
Mr Driscoll’s approach to climate policy is unapologetically bold. “Anyone who has read the IPCC reports and understands the climate science can see that we’re heading for a catastrophe,” he said. “It’s not climate change that will get us; it’s the political consequences of it.” He spoke passionately about the need for systemic change, criticising the inertia of a political system that, he argues, prioritises short-term gains over long-term sustainability. “We have a paradigm that says if we just let rich people become richer, everything will work out. It’s totally incompatible with my sons growing up in a world where there won’t be enough food to feed everybody.”
Beyond policy, Mr Driscoll’s personal warmth and candid demeanour are striking. He shared vivid stories about his time as a martial artist, his rebellious school years, and his engineering background. Despite his unconventional path, Mr Driscoll’s vision for the North East is deeply rooted in the values of the region: resilience, community, and fairness. “I’m not sure I’m left wing,” he reflected. “Objecting to people sleeping in shop doorways in a country full of billionaires should be a centrist position.”
Jamie Driscoll’s disqualification as the Labour candidate for Mayor of the North East is a story that underscores a larger battle within British politics—a struggle between loyalty and principle, power and integrity. As the former Mayor of the North of Tyne, he had negotiated the new £6.1 billion devolution deal to bring Durham and the South of Tyne into the new Combined Authority, but his willingness to challenge the status quo, particularly the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer, led to Labour HQ blocking him from the shortlist. There was uproar amongst local constituency parties, with walkouts and rules suspended, and party staffers at one point threatening disciplinary action if any member mentioned the name “Jamie Driscoll”. Labour, once a home for those like Mr Driscoll, now felt, to him, like a distant, bureaucratic institution more concerned with maintaining power than enacting real change. In his eyes, Starmer’s Labour had strayed from its roots, and rather than toe the line, Mr Driscoll made the bold decision to run for the newly unified North East Mayoralty as an independent. The day he left Labour, Mr Driscoll appeared on Newsnight, warning that, “When the leadership of the Labour Party saying it is not interested in hope and change, that goes beyond expectation management, it shows they don’t have a plan – and I’m worried about that.”
From this disillusionment grew Majority, his new political movement. Created last September as a direct response to the perceived failings of the traditional parties, Majority is driven by the belief that political systems must evolve to serve the people, not the other way around. Majority seeks to work cross-party and build progressive alliances. Mr Driscoll, whose pragmatism had always defined his leadership style, envisions a party that focuses on action over rhetoric, results over promises. With Majority, he aims to unite those frustrated by the entrenched political divisions, offering an alternative grounded in regionalism, social justice, and climate action. It’s a risky move, but for Mr Driscoll, the stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines. “We’re at a crossroads,” he says, “and you’ve either got to abandon the future to some sort of Trumpian dystopia or you’ve got to think, right, well, how are we going to make a stand?” In this new chapter, Mr Driscoll is determined to push forward, knowing full well the obstacles ahead, but driven by a commitment to reshape the political landscape for the betterment of the North East and beyond.
I ask Mr Driscoll what he would say to Keir Starmer if he were here with us now. His answer is characteristically blunt: “I would say, Keir, you’ve clearly already done a deal to get a load of money. You’re not serious about the job. Will you please just f*ck off and let someone else have a go?”
As the other guests arrive and we head in for dinner, I ask Mr Driscoll what he would have done, if he hadn’t pursued a political career. “A good way of phrasing that,” he said, “Is if the Labour Party hadn’t gone dodgy, Andy Burnham was Prime Minister, or John McDonnell was Chancellor, would I have stepped back, and what would I do? I think I’d probably be a novelist. I have written books in the past. I once wrote a contemporary novel about a Catholic priest struggling with his faith and the attitude of the Catholic Church towards homosexuality. And it was a philosophical comedy, basically. It was quite dark. And one of my friends said, now you’re a politician, you know, you can’t publish that!”
Mr Driscoll’s kindness is infectious, radiating a passion for the communities he represented. As any good Mayor should, his story and character seem to reflect and resonate with the region he served, embodying its resilience, pride, and rich sense of identity. Meeting him felt like gaining a deeper, more personal insight into the North East—a place of striking contrasts and enduring strength, where Durham students like myself can sometimes feel a little removed from the day-to-day realities of its people. Yet, in conversation with Mr Driscoll, that distance seemed to dissolve, replaced by a profound sense of connection to the vibrant, hardworking communities that make this region so unique.
Image credit: Jamie Driscoll
