LABOUR’S BID TO OUST BORIS
JOURNALIST AND ACTIVIST LED CAMPAIGN IN CONSTITUENCY
SENIOR Labour MPs joined journalist and activist Owen Jones in Uxbridge to campaign to oust Boris Johnson from his parliamentary seat.
Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry, Rupa Huq and Marsha de Cordova were all present at the ‘Unseat Boris Johnson’ rally on Sunday July 23.
Labour supporters and oppo- nents of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP overspilled from the hall at the Hillingdon Civic Centre, in Uxbridge, to hear the MPs and Mr Jones speak.
They also took to the campaign trail spreading out across the constituency after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn promised the party would continue campaigning throughout the parliamentary summer recess.
The party, which was buoyed by a far better than expected result in the general election is “continu- ously in campaign mode” until the next election, Mr Corbyn said.
Mr Johnson was first elected to his west London seat after finishing his second term as Mayor of London in 2015, with a majority of around 10,000 seats.
Despite the foreign secretary winning more votes than the previous election, he lost half his majority at the June 2017 snap election, with a swing of 13.6% to Labour’s Vincent Lo.
The MPs spoke to hundreds of people in the Civic Centre and campaigned around the constituency.
Uxbridge has returned a nonConservative MP just twice, John Ryan in 1966 and Frank Beswick in 1945.
A local Labour party member said that the visit meant they were able to speak with people who have not had any campaigning before.
Mr Jones said: “We can take this seat, but only if we campaign now.
“A general election can happen at any point and we are ready and waiting to take the message out there.”
A general election can happen at any point and we are ready and waiting to take the message out there Owen Jones