Josh Simons, newly elected Labour MP for Makerfield who also happens to be executive director of Starmerite think tank Labour Together, has been making quite the song and dance of his powers of persuasion. At his acceptance speech and in subsequent media interviews he told the story of a Reform voter, Patricia, who he valiantly re-educated:

“She had a Reform UK poster outside her house. She was going to vote Reform, she joined Reform as a party member. After speaking to her for half an hour, 45 minutes, it was very clear to me that she essentially thought that who she voted for in a parliamentary election made no difference to her life. But when I explained how a Labour government could make a difference to her life, she was willing to place a bet on change but that bet was tentative, it was full of scepticism, and our job now as a Labour government is to make sure we demonstrate that that bet was worthwhile for her and for millions of others like her.“

An inspiring story. The only problem is, some people involved dispute several of the facts. Patricia herself goes on record now to say she actually voted Reform, donated £50 to the party when the election was called, and had convinced all her friends and family to vote for Farage’s party. On seeing Simons’ self-congratulatory tweet thread, she says:

“He had no right to use my photo and now all my friends and family will think I’m a traitor voting for Labour when I’ve told them all to vote Reform“.

In Simons’ Twitter story (which has been seen 130,000 times) , he goes on to say that Patricia complained about a local overgrown alleyway, which he immediately had dealt with. Turns out she also disputes that – some Reform volunteers turned up after the fact and strimmed it themselves. Looks like Simmons’ powers of persuasion may only be matched by his talent for creative writing…