Bridget Fox has tipped herself for a position in the Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet, Islington Now can reveal. The prospective parliamentary candidate for Islington South and Finsbury said last night:
“Because there are fewer Lib Dem MPs, if I get elected it’s likely I’ll be part of a shadow parliamentary team, which is what we call it [the shadow cabinet].”
When canvassing a constituent who was concerned about the problems in the Iranian regime, Ms Fox also hinted that it is possible she will have a position in foreign affairs if she is elected, but stressed that nothing was certain yet.
With polls currently predicting a hung parliament, Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, is being referred to as a “kingmaker” as his support could bolster a Labour or Conservative government with a weak majority. On the doorstep with Marisha Ray, councillor for Clerkenwell, the Lib Dem campaigner referred to the narrow polls, telling constituents that a vote for a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate could mean a vote for Vince Cable as chancellor.
She hinted that Conservative voters from other constituencies were willing to campaign in Islington South and Finsbury for the Liberal Democrats, as they believe that the more Liberal Democrat MPs there are, the higher the chance of Mr Cable becoming chancellor.
Ms Fox lost to Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for the Islington South and Finsbury constituency, by 484 votes in 2005. With such a close Labour majority Ms Fox is stepping up her campaign for the 2010 election, knocking on doors in the constituency almost every evening and weekend. She is also campaigning online, using Facebook and Twitter.
She said Ms Thornberry’s decision not to use Twitter was “a poor strategic move.”
Photo: Bridget Fox
READ MORE: “Dirty tricks” and a war of words between Labour and Lib Dems
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Fox in the Foreign Office … hmmmmmmm
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Hahahaha…did I tell you I’m tipped for the Foreign Office don’t you know…?! Candidate with decreasingly low profile and chance of success announces that she’s actually quite important? (Well,she’s a Lib Dem so it’s all relative). Ooh that’s desperate.
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Alright, alright, I meant ‘increasingly low’…I’m being tipped for a role in the Ministry of Grammar and, although flattering, it’s VERY distracting.
March 24th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Startling news. Voters in Islington South & Finsbury have not cast a single vote yet Bridget Fox has already declared herself “tipped” for a shadow Cabinet role. Tipped by herself, of course.
This excellent piece of journalism tells us that Bridget Fox is saying quite bizarre things on the doorstep. Thankfully someone with a notepad and pencil has overheard it and told the rest of us.
March 24th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Unlike the other commenters here, I was out with Dina, Bridget and the LibDem team for on the night in question. As I understand it, Dina asked Bridget what she wanted to be if elected, and she said that she would, if elected, be happy to be a good local backbench MP, but with the relatively small number of LibDem MPs, most also have some kind of policy spokesmanship. This was more statement of fact than anything else. Congratulations to Dina for making a story out of that. Less so to Labour hack Paul Convery for trying to make a meal of it
March 24th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Vince Cable is a serious contender for chancellor? Not at all likely unless he defected back to the Labour Party. YouGov’s daily tracker today puts the Lib Dems on 18%, rather some way behind Labour’s 33% and the Tories on 37%. It is also worth noting that in the 2005 general election Labour beat the Lib Dems. In the 2006 locals Labour got more votes than the Lib Dems. In the 2008 London election and 2009 Europeans the Lib Dems came behind Labour and the Tories. Bridget has to win her own seat first.
March 24th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Dominic Mathon (who is Bridget’s agent) uses the coy expression “as I understand it …” which reveals that he does not actually know what Bridget Fox said at all. Perhaps we should buy Dina’s version full of Bridget “hinting” at this and “hinting” at that.
March 27th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Ahh the forthcoming coming unenviable choice between Emily Thornberry and Bridget Fox. Says something about the state of the party political situation in the country. Vote for Fox to get Thornberry out and so reduce the number of Labour MPs and there chances of forming the Government. In return get Fox. With just a sliver of difference between the two, policy wise, they could have both been hatched from the same egg. None of the above would be far preferable…
March 31st, 2010 at 5:46 pm
If Paul Convery had seen Dina’s excellent video http://islingtonnow.co.uk/?p=3976 he would see that a) it was not Dominic Mathon but Dominic Curran who was with us that night and b) that Dina asks me about my chances of winning on camera, so my answer is on the record.