Wednesday December 18 | 2019
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Times OF TONBRIDGE
Labour licks its wounds while Greens and Lib Dems gain votes
LABOUR’S nationwide slide was reflected in Tonbridge & Malling where the candidate Dylan Jones saw his vote fall by 7.8 per cent. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat poled 0.9 per cent less than he did in the General Election of 2017 but Mr Jones, who also stood two years ago, saw his share of the ballot tumble from almost one in four - 22.3 per cent - to 14.5 per cent, with 4,424 fewer residents voting for him.
Reflection
Tugendhat is a Jewish name by origin and members of the MP’s family were murdered in the Holocaust. Mr Tugendhat told the Times: “Over the years I have heard antisemitic abuse in the UK and around the world. What saddened me this election is that I heard it in our community. “I’m glad to say these views are clearly rare in West Kent, but I am disappointed they happen at all.” He also reacted angrily to some hate mail that fellow Conservative candidate Nus Ghani received in her Wealden constituency. A leaflet posted through her door was defaced with the words: “We don’t want you as our MP. Go back to Kashmir.
Meanwhile there were successes for both the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. Richard Morris of the Lib Dems gained almost 9 points to 15.5 per cent, overtaking Labour in the process. He picked up 5,056 new supporters compared to his predecessor Keith Miller in 2017. And April Clark, who was elected Green Party councillor for Judd Ward in May, enjoyed a rise of just over 3 points to take 7.2 per cent of the vote. In the 66 polling stations across the borough the turn-out fell from 74 per cent two years ago to 72 per cent this time, with 57,003 people voting. Mr Jones told the Times that he was worried about the effect that the result of the election would have on public spending - particularly in schools. He said: “Clearly the results were disappointing for Labour nationally. A period of reflection regarding our leadership, policy and strategy is required. “In Tonbridge and Malling I am worried about public services over the next five years. “During the campaign I visited a
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FESTIVE HARMONY: The West Kent Youth Voices choir make their debut at Westminster Cathedral at a charity carol concert Page 4
MP Tugendhat is ‘saddened’ by antisemitism on campaign trail By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk TOM TUGENDHAT followed his resounding General Election victory by revealing he had been a victim of antisemitism during the general election campaign. The Tonbridge & Malling Conservative MP was returned with 62.8 per cent of the vote but after the count in the Angel Centre in the early hours of last Friday [December 13], he said: “It was a campaign that wasn’t as always as clean as previous ones.” He added: “For the first time I faced antisemitism, which I found particularly offensive and very surprising for a community like this – and frankly rather distasteful.
“It’s very un-Tonbridge, it’s very unKent and it’s very un-British. “I hope that kind of behaviour will be left behind us for various reasons, some of them particularly obvious. I would hope that type of attitude is going to
‘This hateful language has come up too often and now it’s on the doorstep’ leave our politics for good.” The Labour Party has been dogged by accusations of anti-Jewish abuse among its members and the executive’s inability to cope with it. The leader Jeremy Corbyn was repeatedly grilled about his stance on the issue and called upon to apologise for his party’s failings in dealing with the problem.