How not to conduct a political campaign

The Labour candidate for Stroud is in hot water this morning, after posting a video on X, formerly Twitter, in which a woman called Milly described herself as having been a 'centrist Conservative all my life' but said she was now voting for Labour and for him.

There is one slight problem. The Guido Fawkes website swiftly pointed out that "Milly" is in fact Labour councillor Milly Hill, who represents the Cam East ward on Stroud District council.

You can find Guido's article at

Labour's "Hero Conservative" is Labour Councillor – Guido Fawkes (order-order.com)

and more details on the Daily Mail site at  'Lifelong Tory voter' now backing Starmer exposed as Labour councillor (msn.com)

When challenged about this, Councillor Hill admitted she last voted Conservative when David Cameron was leader - so at least three elections ago - and voted for Jeremy Corbyn in 2019.

Sadly, there are people in all parties who play this kind of trick but this is a particularly egregious case - it isn't just less than honest, it's a downright insult to the intelligence of the electorate. And very silly - what were the chances that nobody in Cam East would notice?

Unless he was disgracefully ignorant about the members of his own constituency Labour party, the Labour candidate cannot have been unaware that the woman he was presenting as a "lifelong Conservative" is in fact a Labour councillor in the area.

This is exactly the sort of thing which brings politics into disrepute, and raises questions about whether the Labour parliamentary candidate and Labour councillor concerned have either the integrity or the political judgement required to be a good public servants in those roles.

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