Comic and actor Eddie Izzard has come second once more in her bid to be selected as a Labour MP candidate (Picture: Getty)
Eddie Izzard has lost out in her latest bid to become a Labour candidate for a Brighton constituency.
The 61-year-old comedian had hoped to contest Brighton Pavilion at the next general election.
The seat has been held since 2010 by the only Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, who is standing down at the next election.
However, the party has instead chosen Tom Gray, a musician and activist who won the Mercury Prize with the band Gomez in 1998.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Gray said he was ‘delighted and humbled to be selected’.
He also thanked Izzard and the other potential candidates for showing ‘such solidarity and integrity on the trail’.
Gomez band member Tom Gray won the selection to contest Brighton Pavilion at the next election on behalf of Labour (Picture: Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns)
Izzard has turned her hand to politics more seriously in recent years (Picture: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
The bid to contest the Brighton seat was Izzard’s latest attempt to enter Westminster politics after she tried unsuccessfully last year to become Labour’s candidate for Sheffield Central.
Izzard, who has long campaigned for Labour and has in recent years spoken about her gender-fluid identity after requesting to be referred to with she/her pronouns, previously said if she became a constituency MP it would be her main job, and she would use her comedy skills for charity.
The comedian, who uses the names Suzy and Eddie interchangeably but remains Eddie publicly, has also said that she wouldn’t stop campaigning until she was in parliament.
Suzy has been a member of the Labour Party since 1995, and told Metro.co.uk earlier this year that she wanted to do ‘all of politics’.
She also noted how LGBTQ+ discussions have become more ‘heated’ in recent years, stating: ‘We were non-people, we were ex-people, we were outside society.
‘I’m quite a boring person with layers of interestingness on top – I think maybe most humans are naturally boring and just want to sit at home, have a cup of tea and watch a really good black and white movie.
‘So consequently, if people hear me talking hopefully or chatting on a chat show or whatever it is, they realise I’m just a human being and I just was honest about it years ago.’
The star has recently opened up more about her gender fluidity and adopting a new name, Suzy (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
In June, the star of screen and stage sought to clear up any confusion around her names and pronouns, reassuring people they were unlikely to offend her by getting it ‘wrong’.
read: ‘As people may now well know, I have added the name ‘Suzy’ to my names.
‘So going forward I am preferring Suzy but I don’t mind Eddie. And I prefer she/her but I don’t mind he/him.
‘So no one can really get it wrong unless they call me Kenneth or Sabrina.
‘I am remaining Eddie Izzard in public. Thank you. Suzy/Eddie [sic].’
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Izzard has ambitions to become an MP.
