Rosie’s backers are not deluded

Mr Ian Page from the left (Letters, January 23) joins Mr Alex Claridge from the right (Letters, January 9) in suggesting that those who voted and campaigned for Rosie Duffield because we regarded her as a good MP were suffering from false consciousness or some similar delusion.

This absurd canard insults the intelligence of the voter. In 2016, more Canterbury voters voted Remain than Leave. In 2017, after Ukip had strongly endorsed Sir Julian Brazier, Rosie Duffield won 187 more votes on a platform of the closest possible arrangement with the EU. Having achieved rapid promotion to the Labour front bench she resigned in June 2018 to vote in favour of the UK remaining in the European Economic Area. In September 2018, Mr Corbyn conspicuously failed to support her when she was attacked for her unequivocal demand for firm action against antisemitism. In November she refused to attend “celebrations” of the centenary of the Bolshevik coup, aka the November revolution. In 2019 her reselection as candidate was delayed because she was suspected of being insufficiently loyal to Mr Corbyn.

There are people who disagree with Rosie’s position these issues. But those of us who wanted an MP who in Westminster acts as she told us she would when she stood for election were not deluded when we organised what Gina Millar, on her visit to support Rosie, described as the most impressive non-party campaign she had seen. Rosie Duffield’s share of the vote in 2019 was 3.3% higher than in 2017. In the eight Labour-held constituencies with a substantial student vote, the Labour vote share fell by an average of 2.5%. Only a good MP could have achieved such an exceptional result.

Palace Street, Canterbury

■ Is this the same Ian Page whom I recall standing against Labour in the 2015 local elections as a candidate for the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition? If so, given that the 2015 general election was held on the same day, I infer that he has not always been quite “so desperate for a Labour government” that he would have “voted for a donkey with a red rosette”.

Canterbury Road, Whitstable

Never mind Big Ben’s bongs for Brexit. The real competition for marking the UK’S departure from the EU has been played out - where else - at the White Cliffs of Dover. It’s been dubbed the battle of the banners, pitching remainers against Brexiteers. In the yellow corner, Lib Dem South East MEP Antony Hook; in the blue corner Conservative MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke.

First to seize the initiative was Mr Hook, who came up with a neat PR stunt involving draping a banner which declared that the UK still loved the European Union. Inconvenient facts like the inability for anyone across the channel to see it, along with the problematic issue that the banner had to be laid out flat rather than put up, were ignored. Not to be outdone, Ms Elphicke declared her plans for a rival banner to be beamed on to the cliffs with the slogan “We Love The UK.” There’s been no sight of this particular banner, so it’s round one to the Lib Dems.

What will the Liberal Democrats do with its banner? There has been some suggestion that it might go on tour, although we suspect that might have rather limited appeal. The other question relates to how much it cost with the price tag of £5,000.

■ Just what will our MEPS now do they are out of a job? The Conservative Dan Hannan says his first priority will be to get a puppy something he has wanted to do for years but not while he was serving as an MEP and dividing his time between Brussels and Strasbourg.

■ Why did the Conservatives fail in their attempt to win back Canterbury at the general election? Its candidate Anna Firth recommends that future polls take place outside university term times. She asserts that students have little interest in local issues and the manifesto should focus on the interests of local residents.

This seems rather unfair to students, who often work part-time in the towns where they are studying and contribute to the local economy. Often they choose to stay on after their studies - becoming the very same “local residents” the Tories want to win over.

As some have pointed out, perhaps Canterbury wasn’t the best fit for a candidate who was a strong Brexiteer and wasn’t local.