Privatisation defender and former Labour Party defector could run for seat again
Despite defecting from the Labour Party in 2019 and running against it twice, former Change UK member Angela Smith is thinking of running to be a Labour MP again this year.
Having left Labour in February 2019 in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Smith went on to form the short-lived centrist Change UK party of Independents, which dissolved only ten months later after the general election when all its MPs lost their seats.
However after defecting to Change UK, Smith jumped ship to the Liberal Democrats, which saw her finish third at the 2019 general election, before leaving Parliament.
She then re-joined Labour in 2022, with her potential comeback as an MP for the Party drawing strong reactions from the Left.
Smith’s most notable moments include when she described people from the BAME community as having a “funny tinge” on live TV, during a discussion on the extent of racism in the UK, for which she later apologised.
Angela has also argued strongly against nationalisation of the water industry, going so far as to say it would make the country the, ‘dirty man of Europe again’. She was acting as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water at the time, which was funded almost entirely by the water industry. Then in 2020 she became an independent non-executive director for Portsmouth Water.
Also notable is her track-record on expenses. She was part of an unsuccessful vote in 2007 by 98 MPs to keep their expenses a secret, not surprising when, in 2009, she made the list of MPs highlighted during the Parliamentary expenses scandal, having claimed expenses for a four-bed flat in London, when it only had one.
Employing her husband as her Senior Parliamentary Assistant on a £40,000 tax-payed salary whilst a Labour MP also raised eyebrows at the time.
“Absolutely shocking that we can’t get a blue collar MP in the Labour Party for love nor money but we can get professional politician / lobbyists who campaign against us when they fancy it. A joke,” wrote Labour Beyond Cities.
Smith is speculated to run for a seat in St Austell & Newquay, where she is already the Labour local constituency party secretary, and has lived for the last three years.
(Image credit: The Guardian / YouTube screenshot)
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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