Labour activists launch Kate Hoey for Tory leader campaign

Labour activists have launched a campaign urging Brexiteer rebel Kate Hoey to run for leader of the Conservative Party.

Party members involved with the campaign point out that Hoey has gone against the Labour Party line on several issues, from Brexit to fox hunting and grammar schools. The newly set up website Hoey for Leader sarcastically praises the Labour MP’s “brave leadership and loyalty to the Conservative Party whip”.

The faux campaign comes on the back of a unanimous vote by Vauxhall Labour last month in favour of deselecting Hoey as a Labour candidate. The motion of censure called for the Labour whip to be removed and for the Labour MP to be ruled ineligible for future selection.

Although relations between the MP and her local party have been strained for some time, a tipping point was reached when Hoey – along with Frank Field, John Mann and Graham Stringer – joined the majority of Tories in the voting lobby to reject the customs union amendment to the trade bill. 

The legislation change would have committed the UK to joining a customs union had it not been able to strike a free trade deal with the EU by January 2019. If passed, the Labour leadership hoped it could have sparked a general election.

A statement on the homepage of hoeyforleader.com reads: “The government could well have fallen on 16 July. 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 adds: “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.”

Jamie Green, a local Labour activist in the Vauxhall constituency who has previously written for LabourList about why Hoey should be deselected, commented: “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.”

Kate Hoey has been contacted for comment.