- Kate Hoey urged to run for Tory leader by activists who have set up campaign pre-emptively – www.hoeyforleader.com
- MP for Vauxhall has strong record of supporting Brexit, fox hunting, grammar schools and Ulster Unionism
- Activists point to Hoey’s “loyalty to the Conservative Party whip” as a qualification for office following close government victories earlier this summer
- Local Labour party plans to deselect Hoey as Labour candidate
Activists have pre-emptively launched a campaign for Kate Hoey to become leader of the Conservative Party, hoping to persuade her to put her hat in the ring for the job. The MP for Vauxhall has been hailed as a “hero of Conservative values” for a number of her stances on supporting fox hunting, grammar schools and Ulster Unionism.
However, it is her position on Brexit that has proved most decisive.
Supporters of Hoey’s Tory leadership bid say they were prompted to start the campaign after a number of crucial votes in parliament just before the summer recess. “The government could well have fallen on 16 July”, the statement on the Hoey for Leader website reads. “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.”
It continues: “Kate represents one of the most pro-Remain constituencies in the UK. Her constituency Labour Party has repeatedly told her to uphold the wishes of her constituents and local members. This has never stopped her from voting with the government on the most important issue of the day.”
“This brave leadership and loyalty to the Conservative Party whip is what our country needs in this time of uncertainty,” it concludes.
Activists were photographed phonebanking and postering for the campaign yesterday in Hoey’s constituency around Oval tube station. Photos can be provided on request – email alena@anothereurope.org
Labour Party members have been less favourable to Hoey’s views and voting record. A motion passed at a meeting on 27th July at Vauxhall CLP states: “Vauxhall is an inner city constituency whose diverse, multi-cultural and multi-racial community have suffered eight years of Tory cuts and austerity, yet our MP is voting to prop up that Tory government and for a Tory Brexit which threatens job, peace in Northern Ireland and the future of the NHS. For this we condemn her.”
Jamie Green, a local Labour Party activist in Vauxhall said:
“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.
“While I also find her views on fox hunting abhorrent, I must admit that while the fox population of the constituency is quite high, I’ve also never seen a hunt taking place around Vauxhall bus garage,” he added.
ENDS
NOTES
1. For more information please email alena@anothereurope.org or ring 07565161800. Spokespeople for the campaign are available on request.
2. Activists were photographed phonebanking and postering for the campaign yesterday in Hoey’s constituency around Oval tube station. Photos can be provided on request – email alena@anothereurope.org
3. Kate Hoey for Tory Leader’s website can be viewed at: http://www.hoeyforleader.com/
4. Kate Hoey for Tory Leader is a satirical campaign run by Another Europe is Possible, the leading left wing campaign against Tory Brexit. Its website can be viewed here: https://www.anothereurope.org/
5. The motion of censure passed at Vauxhall CLP can be found here: https://labourlist.org/2018/
6. Kate Hoey worked for Boris Johnson while he was Mayor: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
7. Kate Hoey has called on Ireland to pay for a new border between the North and South after Brexit: https://www.irishtimes.com/
8. Kate Hoey was chair of the Countryside Alliance: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
16th August 2018