A drag queen-turned-pro wrestler is leading the left-wing fight against Sir Keir Starmer by standing for election for the Greens. Steven Braines, 44, will spend Thursday trying to win votes in the Labour stronghold of Newham, East London.
And that night, the former psychologist will be grappling with rivals in the wrestling ring under his comedic alter ego, Sandra Spitz. But he insists his candidacy is no joke and said the Greens are confident of getting at least one candidate elected in the three seats up for grabs in the Green Street East ward.
He told The Daily Star: “The party numbers have soared under Zack Polanski and people now see that the Greens have a chance of winning, especially after the Gorton and Denton byelection.”
Steven will take a break from door-knocking voters on election day and will perform for Queer-owned Hustle Wrestling, where current WWE star Lizzy Rain previously wrestled, at the Colour Factory in Hackney.
His foray into wrestling comes after his drag alter ego, Sandra, went viral and earned a celebrity following, including Lana Del Rey, Gladiators star Fire, and drag star Violet Chachki.
Steven added: “Sandra is a Blackpool landlady whose magician husband left her for his new assistant Abraca-Debra. She started a stand-up character and was born from skits my flatmate and I were doing during lockdown when we were bored.
“It takes me about five minutes to get ready in her costume. It’s very much of the Lily Savage style of drag. But I like to put the costume on, I feel like a court jester a little bit. You can speak truth to power using the character.”
Sunderland lad Steven, who has lived in London for around 20 years, cited the Undertaker as one of his favourite wrestling stars growing up. And the lifelong Labour voter buried his allegiances with the party after becoming disappointed with Sir Keir’s leadership.
He said: “As someone who has a lot of trans friends, I saw how the Labour government let those people down. I was disappointed with their stance on Gaza, the winter fuel cut and how slow they were at lifting the two-child benefit cap.
“It just didn’t feel like a typical Labour government. I know they have done some good things, but Keir Starmer is not my favourite choice for Labour leader.”
Labour MPs are said to be considering writing an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer to demand his resignation after this week’s local elections. A group of backbenchers are reportedly sounding out support to challenge the PM on Thursday.
Steven believes Labour would not have suffered such a mass exodus of members and voters under a different leader, such as Angela Rayner or Andy Burnham.
And while he knows victories for Green candidates like him could spell the end of Sir Keir’s leadership, he doesn’t see a return to Labour soon.
He added: “I like that Zack Polanski has the attitude of ‘we might not agree on everything, but as long as we have the same moral outlook, we’ll be ok’.
“I also like how their councillors aren’t whipped to vote in line. I think there are many things that should be a matter of conscience. So, unless there is a huge policy lurch, the Greens are my home now.
“I didn’t just join the party, I joined a set of values. My partner was DJing for the Greens, and I met Zack, and he was very charismatic, but I thought he was really genuine when I spoke to him.
“He said ‘you’re probably not too late to run to be a councillor. I thought the only way to get things done and change things is to get involved.
“I think there’s a lot of people unhappy with both the Tories and Labour and in the Greens and Reform, we’ve suddenly got two parties that feel like tangible options that feel like they could be in government.”
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