like because it in effect puts a border down the irish sea. now on bbc news, it s time for political thinking with nick robinson. hello and welcome to political thinking, a conversation with rather than interrogation of someone whose political thinking shapes all of ours. this week my guest is a symbol of the modern labour party, a symbol if you like of a party of two eras. on the one hand, 13 years in power. on the other, 12 years of powerlessness. yvette cooper was once a young rising star of the new labour blair and brown years, but what followed was the wilderness years of opposition, summed up for many by the night on which her husband ed balls lost his seat, as a neighbour of hers in yorkshire. cooper ran to be labour leader againstjeremy corbyn and lost and lost badly. keir starmer brought her back to front line politics, asking her to become shadow home secretary. yvette cooper, welcome to political thinking. good to be here, nick. i m sorry to mention the powerlessne
good to be here, nick. i m sorry to mention the powerlessness! when you watch the tory infighting this week, who is going to be leader? and nobody says keir starmer. it s, will it bejeremy hunt, will it be borisjohnson? does it increase that sense of frustration, of not being in power? the frustration of not being able to do things is huge, and you re right, we ve had 12 years of this now. we are nearly going to have been as long out of power as we were in power. and yes, there s just this massive difference, and it is incredibly frustrating. i think it s also. it s frustrating in terms of all the things that you can do in government, but also frustrating watching them right now, because it feels like they are damaging everybody. we re going to talk about politics, as it were, in a while. but just talking about you, do you ever feel, as these years have passed on, years of opposition, maybe i had my moment, maybe it s time to do something else ? and seeing your husband ed
was the wilderness years of opposition, summed up for many by the night on which her husband ed balls lost his seat, as a neighbour of hers in yorkshire. cooper ran to be labour leader againstjeremy corbyn and lost and lost badly. keir starmer brought her back to front line politics, asking her to become shadow home secretary. yvette cooper, welcome to political thinking. good to be here, nick. i m sorry to mention the powerlessness! when you watch the tory infighting this week, who is going to be leader? and nobody says keir starmer. it s, will it bejeremy hunt, will it be borisjohnson? does it increase that sense of frustration, of not being in power? the frustration of not being able to do things is huge, and you re right, we ve had 12 years of this now. we are nearly going to have been as long out of power as we were in power. and yes, there s just this massive difference,
good to be here, nick. i m sorry to mention the powerlessness! when you watch the tory infighting this week, who is going to be leader? and nobody says keir starmer. it s, will it bejeremy hunt, will it be borisjohnson? does it increase that sense of frustration, of not being in power? the frustration of not being able to do things is huge, and you re right, we ve had 12 years of this now. we are nearly going to have been as long out of power as we were in power. and yes, there s just this massive difference, and it is incredibly frustrating. i think it s also. it s frustrating in terms of all the things that you can do in government, but also frustrating watching them right now, because it feels like they are damaging everybody. we re going to talk about politics, as it were, in a while. but just talking about you, do you ever feel, as these years have passed on, years of opposition, maybe i had my moment, maybe it s time to do something else ?