Former-Labour MP, turned-TIG, turned-Change UK, turned-‘the Independents’, turned-Lib Dem MP, Angela Smith is carpetbagging from Yorkshire to Graham Brady’s Manchester seat, where the Lib Dems finished over 20,000 votes shy of the Tories in 2017. She’s really relying on tactical voting to win…
Smith has just proudly posted on Twitter that if remainers vote tactically, the Lib Dems can win Altringham and Sale West.
Except the photo clearly shows that even in this best-case scenario, the Lib Dems will still lose to the Tories. You too can persuade yourself the Lib Dems will win (if you just take blue to be a funny tinge of yellow)…
The Lib Dems have reshuffled their ‘Shadow Cabinet’ today and remarkably gave the sensitive International Development brief to Angela ‘funny tinge‘ Smith. Even more ironically, the white MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge took the portfolio from Chuka Umunna…
This is the Lib Dems’ second reshuffle since August, allowing for the party to accommodate their latest defectors. As Guido originally reported, Phillip Lee actually delayed the Lib Dem’s last reshuffle for some weeks by putting off his defection…
See the reshuffle in full below:
“The Liberal Democrats are delighted to announce that Angela Smith will stand in the key Conservative battleground, Altrincham and Sale West, against Sir Graham Brady in the next general election.”
Graham Brady won 51% of the vote in 2017. LibDems won 7%. Looks like Angela is retiring at the next election…
Just in case things weren’t confusing enough after the Change UK/Independent Group split, a new grouping called The Independents has now launched, including some – but not all – of the rump of the Independent Group. Rather than being a party they say they are structured as a “co-operative” instead. Hopefully they manage to work together more cooperatively than Change UK did…
At launch they have five MPs – Independent Groupers Heidi Allen, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker and Angela Smith plus former Labour MP John Woodcock, although there’s no sign of Sarah Wollaston. Looks like they won’t be following Chuka to the Lib Dems just yet…
They are making a big feature of their values, rather than political positions, and their independent complaints procedure which Woodcock has already referred himself to in order to resolve the outstanding Labour complaint which Labour deliberately left hanging over him. Can they succeed where TIG/CUK/RA/FC_N failed…?
UPDATE: Even more confusingly, they’re separate from another pet project launched today by Heidi Allen called “Unite to Remain” which will try to get the unruly mass of pro-Remain parties to work together. Or alternatively, try to maintain any sort of media relevance for Heidi herself…
Day two of The Independent Group isn’t going entirely swimmingly, as spokesperson Angela Smith told Sky News she “misspoke” on Politics Live yesterday because she was “tired”.
“No, err, and I know, err, I obviously, look, aha, I never meant to say that… erm, a, I… I misspoke really badly – I was very very tired at that point. I had had six hours of press… erm… engagement and I was very tired, and erm, you know, it’s… I was, I was very tired. I misspoke really really badly and that’s not who I am.”
Guido wonders how Smith would have found six hours of media engagement between the 10am launch of The Independent Group, and the 12:15 broadcast of Politics Live…
I’m really sorry that I misspoke earlier on Politics Live – here’s my statement. pic.twitter.com/7csM95TFLo
— Angela Smith MP (@angelasmithmp) February 18, 2019
The Independent Group’s largely smooth launch has quickly become overshadowed by a race row after Angela Smith had to stop herself from completing a sentence describing BAME people as having a “funny tinge”. Now Smith has posted a grovelling video apologising for “any offence caused” and saying she is “very upset” that she “misspoke so badly”. Not a good look when you’ve supposedly just left the Labour Party over its institutional racism…
