The Liberal Democrats are targeting a south London seat held by Labour with a 12,000 majority in a bid to unseat pro-Brexit MP Kate Hoey, publishing a leaflet showing her face merged with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
The party distributed 20,000 purple leaflets with the Hoey-Farage graphic in the Labour MP’s Vauxhall constituency over the weekend, where 78% of residents backed remain.
Campaigners say they intend to wallpaper the area with another image of the pair celebrating on board the so-called Brexit flotilla during the EU referendum campaign, when Hoey was chair of Labour Leave.
Though Labour MP Gisela Stuart was a prominent voice in the Vote Leave campaign alongside Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, Hoey aligned herself with rival Brexit campaign Grassroots Out, which was led by Farage. Ukip leader Paul Nuttall suggested over the weekend his party could stand aside for Hoey to have a clear run in attracting the pro-Brexit vote.
At a rally for activists in Vauxhall’s St Anne and All Saints’ church, the Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, said Ukip’s candidate in Vauxhall was “basically going to be Kate Hoey”.
Farron said the constituency had seen “the Conservatives, Labour and Ukip all lined up backing the hardest of all Brexits; exit from the single market, cutting off all our ties with our friends and neighbours in Europe, despite those things never being on the ballot paper.”
Talk of an anti-Brexit alliance against Hoey is also in the air, especially since the Green party’s recent decision to stand down against Labour’s Rupa Huq in Ealing Central and Acton, citing her opposition to Brexit. The Lib Dem candidate, British-Croatian national George Turner said he had no contact with the Greens so far, however.
Turner, 34, a prominent local campaigner with thick black glasses and a sweeping fringe, has a classic Lib Dem background. A fluent French and Italian speaker who read European studies, Turner worked for the Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes before he lost his Bermondsey and Old Southwark seat in 2015.
That catastrophic election tipped the Lib Dems into fourth place in Vauxhall, behind the Conservatives and the Greens, and Turner admitted it was an “mountain to climb” in the seat where Hoey has been an MP since 1989. Turner is hoping he and his old boss will be neighbouring MPs, if both can take the seats again in June.
“We are going to have to fight very hard to take this seat,” he admitted. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no Labour candidate in this election. If you are a Labour party member and you want a progressive candidate, I hope I manage to convince people it should be me. I don’t see how in good conscience you can support progressive politics and the EU and vote for Kate Hoey; it just doesn’t work.”
Hoey’s outspoken pro-Brexit campaign and her collaborations with Farage and Ukip put her at odds with her local Labour party. She was censured for “the seemingly enthusiastic support and comradeship she gave Mr Farage during the campaign” last year.
“I’ve voted Labour all my life, every election,” said Sally Warren, a 49-year-old psychoanalyst, holding the Hoey-Farage flyer as she walked with her son past the Fentiman Arms by the Oval Stadium. Warren has lived locally for 10 years and said she had now joined the Lib Dems.
“It pains me to say it but she is a good constituency MP; I liked how she is a bit of a maverick,” she said. “But the Europe issue is a betrayal too far and now I’m campaigning to get her out. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
For some other residents, however, Hoey’s campaign on an issue of principle is not a downside.
“I admire that she stood up for what she believed in. I’d rather she stuck by what she thought,” said student Anna Robinson, who has lived in the constituency for eight months. I just don’t think you can reverse the result of the referendum, it’s not democracy. I can’t see how the Lib Dems could win; they are such a small party.”
In the nearby Ashmole estate, there is support for Hoey, too. Wyndham Lewis-Baxter, who has lived in the block for 26 years, said Hoey had been a diligent local MP. “I voted Brexit myself, everyone who I knew who had dealings with her said she followed up quickly,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of issues with the refurbishment of the flats, boilers not working and so on, and she’s been there to help people.”
Emily Wallace, who chairs the Vauxhall constituency Labour party, said she believed it would be the Lib Dems’ local record and their coalition with the Tories that would keep the balance in Labour’s favour. “A lot of former Lib Dem voters, whatever their view on Brexit, haven’t forgotten Nick Clegg’s role in the coalition,” she said.
Wallace pointed to Farron’s controversial views on gay sex; the Christian leader has repeatedly skirted questions on whether he considers it a sin. The constituency has a large LGBT community, a rich gay rights history and club scene. “We are getting a lot of negative feedback from our large LGBT community about Tim Farron’s position on gay rights which many find offensive,” Wallace said.