She has vowed to stay on, despite her local Labour's vote of no-confidence. But could Kate Hoey become the next Conservative leader?
Some MPs seem to have made it their goal to become the hardest hard Brexiteer Britain has ever seen.
Most, however, are Conservative backbenchers. People like Jacob Rees-Mogg, David Davis, or Boris Johnson. But one particularly hard Brexiteer sits among the Labour benches – Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey.
But unlike Rees-Mogg’s, Davis’ and Johnson’s constituencies, south London’s Vauxhall was a predominantly Remain voting area (only 22% of voters supporter Leave). Hoey, however, has not let either Labour party whip or her constituents stop her from supporting a hard Brexit. She voted alongside likeminded Tories in June’s much heated Brexit Bill debate.
In July, Hoey faced a vote of no confidence by her Constituency Labour Party, with members arguing that:
“We are appalled at the way in which she is demonstrating that her personal views take priority over representing her constituents and our party by voting to enable this rotten, inept government to stay in office.”
Now, Another Europe is Possible activists have targeted the beleaguered MP with a mock campaign calling for Hoey to be elected the new leader of the Conservative Party.
A statement on the Kate Hoey for Tory Leader website reads:
“The government could well have fallen on 16 July. With a crucial set of amendments set to be put through by Jeremy Corbyn and an alliance of backbench Remainer Conservatives, Theresa May was on the brink. Kate Hoey, along with four other Labour MPs, saved the day, voting with the government.”
Posters for the campaign also popped up around Oval tube station, which is situated within Hoey’s constituency.
Anti-Brexit group @Another_Europe has launched a campaign to make Kate Hoey leader of the Conservative party pic.twitter.com/XWlPTJb21v
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) August 16, 2018
And Brexit is not the only area where Hoey is seen as the ideal Tory. Campaigners have argued that her record on supporting fox hunting, Ulster unionism, and grammar schools, while making derogatory comments about cyclists and open borders, make her a “leader in waiting.”
Local Labour activist Jamie Green commented on the stunt saying:
“I honestly cannot fathom why Kate Hoey is either in the Labour Party or the MP for Vauxhall.
“She doesn’t respect local constituents’ wishes, who overwhelmingly back the rights of migrants and Britain’s membership of the EU. She won’t respect – and will barely engage with – the views of local members, who have repeatedly asked her to take basic steps to oppose Tory policies.
“You’d have thought that bringing down a Tory government when given a clear opportunity would be a pretty basic expectation of a Labour MP.”
Hoey has said she will fight moves to deselect her, arguably relying on her 20,250 majority to stay put.
Joana Ramiro is a reporter for Left Foot Forward. You can follow her on Twitter for all sorts of rants here.
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