Trans comedian and politician Eddie Izzard has said she will soon go by the name Suzy. “I’m gonna be Suzy Eddie Izzard”, she announced at a recording of The Political Party podcast last night. “I’ll put Suzy there and then Eddie and then people can choose what they want and no one can go wrong!”
“I’ve wanted to be S, U, Z, Y since I was ten,” Izzard said in a wide-ranging Q&A with comedian Matt Forde. “That’s how I’m gonna roll so people can choose what they want, they can’t make a mistake, they can’t go wrong,” she said, joking that “I make mistakes with my own pronouns.”
On her political ambitions, Izzard vowed “I will keep going until I get in.” She unsuccessfully ran to be a parliamentary candidate for Labour in Sheffield Central last year.
Izzard, who said she is determined to become an MP, also seems to have her sights on the Cabinet. When asked by Forde if she would be happy to give up comedy for the backbenches, she joked: “do I have to be backbench?”
She said “I won’t do dates” on her ambitions for reaching Cabinet and, when asked if she would like to be Prime Minister, said “I don’t mind who does the gig.” Perhaps Izzard has her sights on the Treasury. She noted “I studied accounting and financial management” and said “running a country, you have to balance the whole thing out.”
Izzard said she will largely give up stand-up comedy if elected to parliament and will only perform at infrequent fundraising gigs for charities including food banks.
Despite missing out on selection in Sheffield, Izzard still wants to be an MP in the North of England. “I’d still love to be an MP for Sheffield, anywhere up North,” she said, “if there is a North/South divide - I wanna fight for the North.”
Izzard, who has been a Labour party donor and member for decades, dodged questions about her favourite Labour politicians and said “I’ve been influenced by Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln… I’m trying to roll with Lincoln and Mandela.”
Asked about her factional allegiances in the Labour party Izzard, who self-describes as a “radical moderate”, said she prefers not to be drawn on such questions and thinks “subdividing” is a problem on the left. Izzard briefly served on Labour’s National Executive Committee during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and described him last night as an “honourable man”.
She said she doesn’t have any contact with the current leadership of the party.
