Lib Dem parachuted into plum ward for election

DEFECTOR Jonathan Simpson has been selected to stand in one of Labour’s strongest council wards when he faces the public vote for the first time since quitting the Liberal Democrats.
Councillor Simpson, who controversially crossed the floor in the heat of May’s general election campaign, has been told he can stand in the prized King’s Cross constituency at next year’s Town Hall elections.
Even though opposition parties believe Labour will face a tougher battle in King’s Cross than in previous years, the ward is coveted by hopeful candidates because of the party’s strong track record in the area.
Cllr Simpson was selected alongside fellow candidates Geethika Jayathilaka, an incumbent councillor in the ward, and newcomer Abdul Hai at a private Labour meeting on Monday night.
He said: “I lived in a hall of residence in King’s Cross when I was a student, I know the area well. I was selected by members in the ward on my merits from a tough shortlist. It was a long list.”
Cllr Simpson currently represents Fortune Green but was elected in the ward as a Liberal Democrat councillor and it is widely-predicted that Labour will lose the seat again at next year’s poll. He has since moved houses, leaving Aldred Road in West Hampstead to live in a new home in Camden Town.
Cllr Simpson said: “Historically West Hampstead has had Labour representation and Labour will be campaigning to regain it. Clearly Fortune Green has had Liberal Democrat representation for a long time and I think Labour is facing a challenge to remove it. But we are fighting every single ward.”
Labour’s current King’s Cross councillors Nick Smith, the council’s education boss, and Barbara Hughes, the current Mayor of Camden, are not seeking re-election.
Cllr Simpson added: “I’m sad to move from Fortune Green. It is a great area and community but I’m excited about the challenge of King’s Cross. There is the huge King’s Cross development and I am hoping to represent local people get the best of that project.”
Party sources said that Labour organisers are desperate for Cllr Simpson to be re-elected after turning his shock transfer into a high-profile media event.
One insider said: “Jonathan has been hugely welcomed. He is a good councillor and we, of course, want to see him at the Town Hall after next May.”
But the decision for Cllr Simpson to stand in a new ward has raised eyebrows amongst opposition politicians.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Flick Rea, the party’s deputy leader, said: “It would have been unwise for him to stand in Fortune Green. The feedback I’ve been getting is that people are still cross about the way he defected. But King’s Cross is no longer a plum seat for Labour if you look at the statistics. There are very few safe Labour seats now.”
The selection comes just two weeks after long-standing Labour Councillor Roger Robinson was de-selected in the neighbouring ward of St Pancras and Somers Town.
Tory leader Councillor Piers Wauchope added: “It shows what a poor state the Labour Party is in if they are getting rid of long serving councillor like Roger Robinson and selecting a man who has spent the last three years criticising them.”
Residents in Elm Village – part of Cllr Robinson’s constituency – this week indicated they were planning to petition the Labour Party in support of the ousted politician.