Two things drive Jason Jackson. “Being a dad is my number one motivation,” he tells me over Zoom, with a grin. “And obviously, I also want to see a Labour government.”
It’s ambitious talk from a man who hasn’t yet been elected, but Jackson has always been one to dream big, following those dreams with actions that have seen him rocket up the political ladder in recent years. The culmination of that ascent came last week, as he was nominated to be Labour’s candidate to fight the Holloway ward by-election, taking over from Paul Smith, the outgoing councillor.
Given Labour’s dominance over the ward, it looks to be a shoo-in but Jackson isn’t going to rest easy. Even before he was nominated, he’s been a consummate campaigner.
Moving from Nigeria as a child, Jackson settled in Hackney before going to study business law and media studies at London Metropolitan University. Just after he applied, he received word that the university was under threat of closure. “That was really the sparking point for me,” he says. “I felt it wasn’t fair because London Met was the university that gave access to a lot of people that wouldn’t get access… especially people from, you know, my background and also for people that might not be able to go to the Russell [group] universities.”
That sense of fairness has been a touchstone for Jackson throughout his political life. He joined the campaign to keep the university open – which was successful – and then went on to become head of the student union. In his last year there, he joined the Labour party and hasn’t looked back, working his way up the ranks, canvassing across London and becoming the BAME officer, first for Holloway then for Islington Labour.
“Labour has its own issues,” he tells me when I ask why he decided to join up. “But Labour is still the best platform to just deliver a fair, equal society… to me, Labour kind of plays well to my beliefs on certain things.”
Above all, his beliefs include fair representation for the BAME community, many of whom are still overlooked and underrepresented in political decision-making. Alongside becoming councillor, Jackson hopes to change this through his work at the Black Policy Institute, a think tank that he and other activists set up at the end of 2020 due to be launched next month.
It’s a way of “making sure we are empowering the community with the right information,” Jackson says. “We’re also lobbying governmental bodies, whoever is in power… to say, look, you need to do more for the community.”
Though the Black Lives Matter movement wasn’t the catalyst for its inception, he’s clear that it’s another reason to keep pushing. “I’m trying to make sure that Black Lives Matter wasn’t just a thing; that it does continue outside of just protests to actual action,” he says.
For Jackson, community is key, and all of his policies are centred around making the streets feel safer, organisations feel more inclusive, people feel better represented. “My children motivate me because I want them to believe that if you work hard, then you have access. There is hope that the system works… As a black man, there tends to be a situation where people feel, especially politically, that there is no space for us. So, I do want them to feel that that’s not the case. And that if you are passionate about what you stand for, then you can do it.”
Does he feel that politics, to use the old adage, is too “pale, male and stale” for an electorate that is as diverse as London?
“Yes,” he says firmly. “We don’t have enough black representation. We don’t have enough black men represented in the decision-making spaces. It’s an ongoing issue. And a lot of the time there are tokenistic moves around that and that’s not what we want. We just want a fair playing field.”
Despite this, Jackson remains optimistic about the impact his selection will have. “From people in leadership roles come role models for the next generation. And we also need that. So, if we don’t want to leave our generation, the younger generation behind, people need to have faith that representation from the community is there.”
His role, as he sees it, is to stay in touch with “the people on the ground”, making sure that he can maintain an open connection with the community and be their voice in meetings. Mostly, though, his aim is simple. “I just want to be a good councillor,” he says.
Upcoming election win or no, it’s clear that Jackson is just at the beginning of his political career. And so, I ask him, does he have any political role models for the years to come?
“I like David Lammy… he speaks the truth, sometimes the uncomfortable truth, and that is fine. But outside of David Lammy…” He smiles. “I think what Obama created for young men across the globe was you can dream. You’re allowed to dream.”
