After being rather annoyed by the lacklustre efforts/sabotage (depending on what you believe...) of the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the recent EU referendum campaign, I decided to throw my hat in the ring to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Islington North, Mr Corbyn's seat.
I have only ever been a parliamentary candidate in Yorkshire (I wasn't even on the London candidates list) and was usually intending to stand in Yorkshire again in the next General Election. I previously stood in Rotherham in 2010 and Morley and Outwood in 2015.
Morley might sound familar; it was Ed Balls' seat. Despite having no money bar my deposit being paid (I had to fundraise £800 for my election address), very few activists, and being almost unable to take time off my non political day job, I managed to poll over 1400 votes. Ed Balls lost by 422, so I would like to claim at least some credit : )
I happen to live in Islington North (since 2009 with a lengthy interlude in Leeds while being a Yorkshire MEP) and have been a reliable foot solider with the local party in many elections/by-elections.
I was actively involved in campaigning in the EU referendum both with Islington Liberal Democrats and my local Stronger In group (Islington North). Despite being asked numerous times to come along to local Stronger In campaigning activities, Mr Corbyn didn't manage to do this once. Not once. He did however manage to go on holiday during the campaign : (
I don't have anything personally against Mr Corbyn; I met him once at an anti pub-co sit-in (trying to stop a landlady being evicted by big pub company) and thought he was a nice man. I also understand from LibDem colleagues who have previously been councillors in Islington North that he is a good constituency MP who effectively assists those who need his help.
However, his lack of effort on the EU referendum combined with his appalling lack of leadership skills, which means that her Majesty's official opposition is too busy fighting itself to effectively oppose the current Tory government, is enough to make me want to stand against him.
There are three candidates shortlisted to be the next LibDem parliamentary candidate for Islington North. The other two candidates are both long standing local LibDem activists. They are Julian Gregory who stood for the LibDems in Islington North in 2015, and Keith Angus who has twice been LibDem parliamentary candidate for the neighbouring Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency.
Local party members are invited to attend a hustings next Monday 5 September to choose the candidate. Now I have just under a week to persuade them to choose me!
