Labour’s election candidate for the new parliamentary seat of Thanet East, “Parachute” Polly Billington has unceremoniously dumped her constituents in the Hackney Council ward of Du Beauvoir and resigned her seat to focus on defeating Craig Mackinlay in the soon to be held general election.
Barring any unexpected shocks, such as the election of an independent candidate, her chances of winning look good, and to be fair a Labour victory at the polls might be marginally better than what we have now.
But beware. Polly Billington is very ambitious. Winning in Thanet is for her just the beginning of her ascension up the greasy pole of political promotion.
My guess is that should she take the Thanet East seat then just like her constituents in Hackney, her constituents here will be left in the lurch as she devotes most of her time winning over Labour power brokers to support her getting a cabinet job. If her plans succeed then of course her time will be taken up by “affairs of state” in London with a bag carrier stand in taking her place in Thanet.
In many ways the good people of Hackney Du Beauvoir ward will be better off than the voters of Thanet East. For them her political ambition led Polly to resign her seat and go to Thanet. Much to the relief of socialists and greens in area I am told. Here I fear we will be saddled with a sharp elbowed, self important, gravy train riding absentee MP for many years to come.
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