The director of one of the main groups involved in preventing the Rwanda flight taking off is, to no one’s surprise, standing to be a Labour candidate at the next general election. Bella Sankey is the head of Detention Action, a group who, as well trying to prevent the Rwanda deportation, previously led a campaign to stop the deportation of convicted rapists, murderers and attempted murderers. Now she’s standing to be the Labour candidate in Hastings and Rye…

I'm excited to say that I'm standing to be the next @UKLabour MP for Hastings & Rye.🌹

I've got the Sussex roots, motivation & credibility to win here, stand up for local people & help put Labour in power at the next General Election. /1 pic.twitter.com/F97yoFayxl

— Bella Sankey (@BellaSankey) June 14, 2022

It’s not the first time Bella’s stood as a Labour candidate. In 2019 she stood in the Tory safe seat of Arundel and South Downs, receiving an endorsement from none other than… Keir Starmer:

Good luck @BellaSankey - another great @UKLabour candidate #VoteLabour2019 https://t.co/lilahmxWER

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 14, 2019

Eight days ago, Labour claimed they had nothing to do with the legal actions to frustrate the deportations, telling the Mail “As the Government well knows, Labour is not involved. This is desperate lashing-out for a party that’s in chaos.”

Despite this denial from Labour, Keir Starmer was happy to describe the woman leading the legal frustrations as “a woman of principle and integrity. She has a strong track record of successful campaigns for justice.” As well as opposing deportations of murderers, Bella’s “track record” of “integrity” includes saying terror attacks are a “price we should be willing to pay” to protect us from being snooped on by GCHQ; lobbied to remove the blanket ban on prisoner voting; is against the freezing of assets of suspected terrorists; and was against the introduction, and then strengthening, of anti-social behaviour orders. A more perfect CV for a prospective Labour MP couldn’t exist…