Conservative activist suspended amid Labour Gospel Oak by-election win

Jenny Mulholland Archant

A Conservative activist has been suspended from the party after a tirade towards Labour campaigners during the Gospel Oak by-election results.

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After the results were announced, the man shouted “You don’t care about Camden, you don’t care about god, you don’t care about anything, you dirty communists, go and burn in hell.”

Labour’s Jenny Mulholland won the by-election.

The man, who is not thought to have been attending as an official Conservative Party representative, was then escorted out of Camden Town Hall, where the count took place.

Camden Conservatives later tweeted that he had been suspended from the party.

Conservative councillor for Hampstead, Oliver Cooper responded by tweeting: “I was horrified and incandescent when @RishiMadlani told me what had been said. Absolutely outrageous, unacceptable in the Party, and entirely out-of-keeping with our party. Holborn & St Pancras Conservatives are right to have taken swift action.”

Labour’s Cllr Mulholland won the by-election with nearly 58% of the vote.

Jill Fraser of the Liberal Democrats finished second, Conservative Marx de Morias third, and the English Democrats’ Max Spencer fourth.

Turnout was 25 per cent.

Cllr Muholland works at tech company Softwire, and volunteers to get more girls into STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths).

The election was called after the second Labour resignation from Gospel Oak this year. Maeve McCormack stood down in March, and Theo Blackwell vacated his seat in August.

Speaking to the Ham&High about her election result, Mulholland was delighted. “It’s my own ward and I’m proud and happy to be able to represent it. It’s a very diverse ward and I’m looking forward to doing what I can to help.”

After the second by-election in Gospel Oak this year, she’s also keen for stability in the ward. She said: “I wouldn’t have stood unless I was ready to put myself forward for the ward. These are my people, and this is why I can make a difference to my area.”