Ex-Labour councillor Linda Kelly will stand against her former party as the Conservative candidate in next year’s elections for Hackney mayor, it was confirmed this week.
Kelly, who represented Labour as councillor for Leabridge for nine years before defecting to the Tories in 2011, will oppose incumbent Jules Pipe, who has held the post for more than a decade.
The ex-councillor said that she intended to stand for the Conservative party in the May election, but will not be revealing any details about her candidacy before the end of the year.
She left Labour two years ago, telling the media she felt “stifled” by her former party.
Labour responded by saying that Kelly had crossed over to the Conservatives after being overlooked for the position of speaker.
Despite calls by the Labour party at the time for a by-election, her move did very little to alter the balance of power in the borough, which is a traditional Labour stronghold where they currently hold 49 of 57 seats.
In 2010, Labour’s Jules Pipe received over 50 per cent of first preference votes and was comfortably elected mayor for a third consecutive term, with the Conservative candidate getting only one eighth of the total vote.
Mustafa Korel, a Hackney campaigner and community organiser, announced he will also stand in the forthcoming election – as an independent candidate.
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