Council leader becomes an MP but insists: ‘I'm leaving Camden in good hands'
Georgia Gould is the new MP for Maida Vale & Queen's Park
Saturday, 6th July 2024 — By Tom Foot
Georgia Gould after learning that she has been elected to the House of Commons
GEORGIA Gould’s seven-year reign as the leader of Camden Council will come to an end after she was elected the new Labour MP for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale.
In one of the safest territories going for the party, she won with 20,196 votes – polling 15,000 votes ahead of the Green and Conservative candidates.
She had been chosen as the candidate to replace Dame Karen Buck when the veteran MP stood down after 27 years representing the constituency, previously called Westminster North.
After the result was announced, Ms Gould spoke about what Camden had meant to her since 2010, when she was first elected as a councillor.
She said: “Leading Camden for seven years has been the absolute honour of my life. I have worked everyday to protect our communities. We have done so much. I’ve been so proud to lead this amazing diverse group of councillors, who are doing an amazing job for the borough.
“But too often we were putting sticking plasters over systems that weren’t working and needed national change. So I put myself forward to be an MP and won tonight – but I’m leaving Camden in safe hands.”
She said her “fundamental challenge” as an MP would be to support the Labour government to tackle housing and homelessness.
She said: “Camden has an amazing community that wants to get involved in politics and changing things. We have this amazing newspaper that sometimes, rightly, criticises us but also tells the story of our communities and makes sure they have a voice. The Camden New Journal is so important for democracy.” Ms Gould had arrived at the count at 3am, her arm still in a sling after breaking it in a fall earlier in the campaign.
The result announcement had been significantly delayed due to problems getting thousands of votes to the Lindley Hall, the home of the Royal Horticultural Society, a short walk from the House of Parliament in Westminster. Council sources had said some votes had been temporarily held-up in a serious road traffic accident in Park Lane, Mayfair.
In 2019, Dame Karen held her constituency with a substantial majority in the Boris Johnson landslide in 2019 with a majority of 10,759.
