Westminster Whites - the Leeds United 'mafia' in Houses of Parliament corridors of power

There’s nowhere that ‘being Leeds’ doesn’t mean anything.
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Despite the ups and downs, Leeds fans still populate every corner of the country, but the Houses of Parliament in Westminster might be the last place you’d expect to find them.

With a sometimes divisive and potentially daunting atmosphere, working in Parliament is the polar opposite to the experience of a match day at Elland Road.

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Alongside MPs and Peers, walking the corridors of power are political party staffers, MPs’ staff, journalists and lobbyists.

They make up the fabric of Parliament and its processes, doing much of the heavy lifting of the politics that fills our newsreels and social media timelines every single day.

Among them are a strong contingent of Leeds fans who drop their political colours for white, yellow and blue every time Leeds United needs them to.

Football is one of the few ways to bridge the political divide between people who are fully immersed in their work – work that has a tendency to dominate our daily lives and the way we think of so many issues.

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But, while they’re not able to travel to Elland Road week in week out, many of the Westminster Whites have a strong history of following the team before they ventured out of Yorkshire to the Big Smoke.

POWER: Leeds United supporters bump into each other in the corridors of power in Westminster. Pic: Getty.POWER: Leeds United supporters bump into each other in the corridors of power in Westminster. Pic: Getty.
POWER: Leeds United supporters bump into each other in the corridors of power in Westminster. Pic: Getty.

Inspired by Leeds’ success in the Champions League in the early 2000s, chief political correspondent for The Guardian, Jessica Elgot had a season ticket until she was 18.

She told The YEP: “My parents still go every week though now it’s a tussle between me and my younger brother if we are back in Yorkshire for the weekend to get the spare third ticket.”

But, like many others, Jessica now follows the team around London – whether that’s at away games, in the local to watch one of United’s many televised fixtures or, failing that, Twitter updates.

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The ups and downs don’t stop at Elland Road, nor are Leeds fans concentrated into Leeds boozers.

Labour Party staffer, Cameron Iveson, said “You’d be surprised how many Leeds fans you bump in to.

“I remember watching the play-off semi-final against Derby last year in a pub in Highbury and Islington that was absolutely rammed with Leeds fans.

“It was a disappointing tube journey home.”

Sunday Mirror political editor, Keir Mudie, explained that the emotional trauma of watching Leeds United spans far beyond West Yorkshire: “I can’t watch half the time, even when we’re a couple of goals up or something. It’s too tense.

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“My mate said ‘why do you have it on? You don’t seem like you’re enjoying it’. I still don’t understand that question. Who ‘enjoys’ it?”

But, moving to London isn’t the end of anyone’s relationship with Leeds United, rather its just another chapter of sporting romance.

Iveson explained: “I don’t think moving away has changed how I feel, supporting the club isn’t something you can walk away from.”

London Leeds look to prolong their long-distance relationship with the Peacocks via social media, local media coverage and podcasts such as The Square Ball and Talking Shutt that have gained mass popularity in recent years among cult Leeds fans.

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Mudie explains that the multimedia approach of both the club and the fanbase cuts through: “It’s the first thing I read about every morning.

“I’ve got all sorts of alerts set up. Weirdly, being away from Leeds makes me feel more involved.

“You’re surrounded by fans of other clubs and, as soon as they find out you’re a Leeds fan, they let you know what they think. Everyone has an opinion about us.”

Parliament can have an extremely divisive and sometimes even daunting atmosphere and, truth be told, it helps to have a bit of a clique. This is no different for the Westminster contingent of Leeds fans.

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Mudie says the ‘Leeds mafia’ in Parliament spans from staff to journalists to Members of Parliament and Peers.

Just like ‘up North’, the Westminster Leeds mafia consists of the usual suspects – from the optimist to the eternal pessimist that wouldn’t believe Leeds were promoted if Liam Cooper lifted the trophy in front of their face.

Mudie goes as far to say that, if he’s interviewing certain high-profile MPs and knows a member of their staff is a Leeds fan, he’ll arrive half an hour early for a mandatory catch-up.

Leeds United not only spans the political spectrum, but actually brings people who may not usually mix, together.

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Formerly of The Yorkshire Post, deputy political editor at The Huffington Post, Arj Singh, says: “It’s definitely great as a way-in with people to have that Leeds connection and makes it easier in a difficult place to work, at times.”

And Leeds fans make up around one third of Jessica Elgot’s office who says: “[Parliament] is an intimidating place to work, no doubt.

“But, astonishingly, we had three Leeds fans in the office of only around eight or nine people.”

Paul Butters, who acted as spokesperson to Tim Farron during his time as leader of the Liberal Democrats, explains that, regardless of political leanings and agendas, Leeds fans come together under values of “common sense, loving their communities and the passion that the fans have”.

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In a similar vein, Iveson also says Parliament dwellers put politics aside for the sake of Leeds United: “When you hear a Yorkshire twang, a good ice breaker is, ‘are you a Leeds fan?’.

“From my experience, once you have supporting Leeds as your common interest, you immediately get on.

“There’s always been a strong sense of solidarity amongst our supporters, but the excitement for the past two years under Marcelo Bielsa has definitely helped.”

Whether they’re in London or Leeds, as Arj puts it, “there’s no such thing as a casual Leeds fan”, and the club’s performances are taken seriously simply because there’s so much riding on it for the city they live so far away from, but stay so connected to.

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Naturally, the Westminster Whites are a mixture of people like Butters who say Leeds are “100 per cent” going up and expects European nights to return to Elland Road within two seasons, and those who are a bit less confident saying it aloud, because of last year’s play-off trauma.

Singh is one of these people –holding himself back from predicting a return to the Premier League and pastures old, simply saying “we look very good value don’t we …”.

Whether promotion to the ‘promised land’ is achieved after the season restarts, or not, Leeds fans will continue to be united by their team’s successes and their failures.

This is not only true for the Westminster Whites but across United’s far-reaching fanbase across the world.

It comes with the territory.