A few months ago, a rare event took place in Gateshead. A Labour Councillor, Jane McCoid left Labour to go independent. Changes of allegiances are few and far between in Gateshead so the local newspaper, The Chronicle, carried the story and included quotes direct from Jane herself.
Angry about the direction of Labour in government, she told The Chronicle, "Enough is enough", "all hope is gone" and the reduction in winter fuel allowance was "impossible to defend". Read the full article on this link.
At the time I thought Jane was quite brave. Defectors in Gateshead tend to disappear rapidly from view. In the meantime, Gateshead Lib Dems have worked hard to raise Jane's profile by including her resignation and her comments in our Focus leaflets.
Yesterday, Jane sent me the following email:
Jane, if you don't want to be quoted as a defector saying lots of negative things about the party you have just left, I recommend not defecting in the first place but if you do defect, don't give your former colleagues a mauling by speaking to the media!
Gateshead Lib Dems will of course continue to exercise our democratic freedom to quote material that is in the public domain.
In the meantime Jane, closing the doors after you've already defected is probably not going to produce the results for which you are hoping.
No comments:
Post a Comment