By-election after MP’s murder marred by shadow of Boris Johnson
All by herself: Tory Anna Firth has won the Southend West Parliamentary seat that was left vacant after David Amess was killed. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party did not contest the seat.
Another Conservative has been voted in as MP for Southend West, after the fatal stabbing of former incumbent David Amess.
The previous MP was fatally stabbed during a constituency surgery on October 15. Ali Harbi Ali, 25, of Kentish Town in London, is to stand trial for his murder next month.
It wasn’t much of a contest. With Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party not contesting the seat because of the way it fell vacant, Anna Firth won with 12,792 votes.
But only 24 per cent of the electorate bothered to turn out for it and the second most popular thing to do with ballot papers was to spoil them with messages of disgust with Boris Johnson.
According to PA Media, one stated: “Boris do a Brexit – get out”, while another said: “Get Boris out”.
But Firth – a Johnson loyalist – said she would not take those messages back to Westminster with her. Instead – in an early display of ignorance – she said she would “focus on local priorities”.
Weren’t those anti-Boris messages a display of local priorities, then? It seems this new Tory is just more of the same – an ignorant rich kid who will ignore anything she doesn’t want to see.
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On the one hand I can see why other parties don’t put themselves forward in by-elections like this but it does rather make a mockery of the electoral system by removing the choice from the constituents. I don’t blame the 76% for not turning out, I wouldn’t have either..