Funnyman Eddie Izzard’s mission was to ‘stand up’ for Labour rather comedy on a trip to Chester where he proved a massive hit with supporters and the public.
Eddie, sporting high heels and red lipstick, met up with Labour parliamentary candidate Chris Matheson at the city’s 2,000-year-old amphitheatre before walking through the Roman gardens along the walls followed by a gaggle of banner-waving party members.
Then it was back into the city centre for a cuppa at Tudor House in Lower Bridge Street where he mingled with supporters and was happy to have endless selfies taken with fans while also being interviewed for TV.
Eddie is lending support to Labour candidates across the country and in 2020 is himself to stand to become either an MP or the mayor of London.
Why Eddie supports Labour
Asked to give his reasons for backing the socialist cause, Eddie told The Chronicle: “Well, there’s something called the NHS. Now we came up with the NHS, we pushed for the NHS. The Conservative Party, because they conserve things that went before that weren’t very good, they ‘no’, ‘no NHS’. They didn’t want it and they still wouldn’t want it now so there you go.
“NHS, I think it’s 70-80% of the country constantly want the NHS, want to save the NHS. If you want to stop it going backwards then vote for the Labour Party and vote for Chris here in Chester because it’s a close vote, it’s going to be right down to the wire.”
And Eddie, a member of the Labour Party since 1995, urged anyone who had not already registered to vote to do so before the deadline of midnight on Monday (April 20).
Selfie time
Labour MP wannabe Chris Matheson, who had a selfie taken with his comedy hero, said everyone was excited by Eddie’s appearance because of his ‘star quality’.
“Everyone’s been stopping him in the street to say ‘hello’,” he said. “But Eddie’s here, not because he’s a famous actor and stand-up comedian and author and everything else, he’s here because he believes in it. He believes in Labour’s message. He wants to promote a better society. He wants to promote Labour’s vision – a country that works for everyone.”
Chris, who enjoys a laugh, went on to reference Eddie’s ‘Darth Vader Death Star canteen’ routine which will mean something to those who study his work. Eddie interjected that in the sequel ‘God fights Darth Vader over spaghetti carbonara’. “But that’s nothing to do with politics, that’s just to do with my other day job,” he joked.
Eddie, the UK’s most high profile transvestite, confessed to being quite overwhelmed by the interest shown in him on the Chester visit. “Most people don’t take much attention of me usually, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Some people go ‘Oh, you’re that guy’ or ‘You’re that geezer’ – I reached geezer status at some point. And I have boy moments and girl moments, so that confuses people.”
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