The independents taking on the big parties
We've spoken to the independents who have put their name on the ballot in Northants
By Sarah Ward
Only a dozen or so independent parliamentary candidates have ever made it to Westminster.
This General Election five candidates have put themselves forward as a choice for voters across the seven constituencies in Northants.
We spoke to them to find out what has prompted them to go it alone and what they are offering to voters.
Paul Clark, Northampton North candidate
Independent councillor Paul Clark has taken his campaign out onto the road in the Northampton North constituency in a van emblazoned with his face and his campaign manifesto. Northampton born and bred, Paul, 58, is standing for parliamentary election for the first time, spurred on by a desire he says to serve the public interest ahead of party politics.
He was elected as a Conservative for the Billing and Rectory Farm ward to the West Unitary Council in 2021, but quite quickly left the party he has supported all his life after becoming disillusioned with what he found when he became a member of the council.
On why he left the party he says:
“I felt I best served the public by being independent. Because they wanted me to put party politics before public interest. They wanted me to be quiet on something and run it past them first. Instead I scrutinised, questioned and challenged.”
He has been instrumental in highlighting concerns with the deal between Northampton Town Football Club and the unitary council (it went to a judicial review but in the end went ahead), and he also took the first steps in helping to expose the recent domestic abuse allegations against the former council leader Jonathan Nunn.
He was the only councillor of the 93 in West Northants who wanted to publicly raise what was being spoken about in the council chamber, but he was prevented from speaking and the video link was turned off.
Among his list of pledges is what he sees as corruption in local government and the police force, combating knife crime and he also wants to address the cost of living issue and see more support given to families in need.
He says he’s knocking on around 250 doors a day in the constituency and the response has been good.
“It’s pretty positive out there - there’s a few floating votes, people take a leaflet and say ‘I'll have a little think. You’ve given me a bit of food for thought.’
“I’m not there just to tackle votes off people - I’m there to win. Why should I not be serious about it?”
“I will not be a career politician. I will be a hands-on politician. I’ll be a fresh start for Northampton. One of its own.”
Other candidates standing in the Northamptonshire North constituency are:
Anthony Antoniou, Reform UK
Eishar Kaur Bassan, The Green Party
Dan Bennett, The Conservative Party
Christopher Gordon Leggett, Liberal Democrats
Khalid Razzaq, Workers Party
Lucy Rigby, Labour Party
Jim Hakewill, Kettering candidate
“I didn’t leave the Conservative Party. It left me, when it became so uncaring, unkind and right wing” says Jim Hakewill.
Elected as an independent councillor to North Northamptonshire Council in 2021, Jim Hakewill has undoubtedly faced more elections than any of the other 47 candidates in the seven constituencies across the county.
A former leader of Kettering Borough Council, he has more than 40 years experience in local government and has made a number of attempts to get elected, previously as a Conservative candidate, but more latterly as an independent. In 2019 he stood against Conservative Philip Hollobone in the Kettering constituency and will be attempting to rival him at the ballot box again.
He became an independent over the collapsing county council’s plans to shut down a number of libraries to save money.
He says:
“I’m standing as an independent because I believe an independent view on local government and national government is much better than just going down one party line. All of us have a little bit of all the national parties within us, but the problem is when someone stands with a party, they are going to toe that party line, whatever they may say.
“I don't have to toe a party line. I can listen to people and in Westminster I would be able to choose what is best for local people, not what is best for someone’s political career.”
He says the major benefit of being independent is that he can work with whichever group of councillors he wants to, irrespective of party.
As to his priorities, he thinks the plans for the much needed new hospital in Kettering need a rethink. Currently the plan is to build a brand new hospital in the existing land, with buildings being knocked down and rebuilt in phases.
He says: “The biggest issue is the argument about rebuilding the hospital.
“The last thing local people need in their health service is to turn the general hospital site into a massive building site. It is not about who is going to fund it and who is not going to fund it. What we need is everyone to get around the table and work out where the best place to provide those services is. And that cannot be by creating a nightmare scenario for the next five years of building on a site which is already congested.”
The current time frame is 2030 to open the new hospital. He thinks that is too long in the future, and remembers when Phillip Hollobone originally told residents the new hospital would be open for 2022.
“The other campaign I'm going on is my experience. While I absolutely welcome new young and enthusiastic young people, at this time I think we really need a safe and steady pair of hands.”
If elected, he would abolish the role of police, fire and crime commissioner and put the money back into the service. He’d make statutory laws that ensure councils did the job of potholes properly ringfence the funding so it is not spent on other local council services.
Other candidates standing in the Kettering constituency are:
Jehad Aburamadan, Alliance for Democracy and Freedom
Crispian Besley, Reform UK
Emily Fedorowycz, The Green Party
Philip Hollobone, The Conservative Party
Matthew Murphy, Social Democratic Party
Sarah Ryan, Liberal Democrats
Rosie Wrighting, The Labour Party
Karen Blott, Corby and East Northamptonshire candidate
This is the first time Karen Blott has put herself onto a ballot paper.
She is standing as a candidate in the Corby and East Northants constituency because she says she is ‘fed up with the battle between just red [Labour] and blue [Conservative].
She says:
“I found a quote from JF Kennedy who said: ‘I know somebody needs to do something about this - well I am somebody.”
Over the years she has voted for all the parties, including voting with UKIP as she was a brexiteer, but feels she cannot vote for any mainstream party now.
Some of her ideas would appear to align with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, as she is concerned about immigration - although she insists ‘I am no right wing lunatic’ and ‘I’m not a racist’. She is worried about what she claims are ‘no go areas’ in Britain and says ‘I do believe we have to stop the ghettoisation of people’.
She has put up the £500 deposit needed to stand in a general election by crowdfunding it from supporters.
If elected she would like to have a more ‘direct democracy’ where she would like constituents to have a say on the important issues, but as yet she has not worked out how that would work.
Other candidates standing in the Corby and East Northants constituency are:
Lee Barron, Labour Party
Lee Forster, The Green Party
Chris Lofts, Liberal Democrat
Eddie McDonald, Reform UK
Tom Pursglove, The Conservative Party
Ian McCord, South Northamptonshire candidate
Former Conservative leader of South Northamptonshire Council Ian McCord has a track record of winning elections, but won his last as a Conservative. In what could be seen as opportune political timing, he was suspended from the Tory party shortly after being elected as a unitary councillor in 2021, which stopped him having a chance to become the Conservative leader and leader of the new authority. He was later found to have no case to answer, but stayed outside the party, where he remains today.
He stood in the 2001 general election in Yorkshire as a Tory candidate, but this is his first time standing as an independent and he is hoping to become the first non Conservative to win the seat in living history, but is realistic about his chances.
He says: “You would get very long odds on anyone other than the Conservatives. But if you elect a Conservative you will be voting for an opposition MP. I will be an opposition MP but I won't be taking party orders or trying to ingratiate myself. I will just be working for the local areas.”
He added:
“The two main parties are saying things will be a little bit less rubbish if you vote for us, but we need to concentrate on the issues and the things that impact on people’s lives.”
The issues he is campaigning on are free parking and to protect it in Towcester and Brackley; changing the timeline of getting to net zero by 2030 (as he does not think this is affordable) and putting solar panels on warehouses rather than on green land. He says he will also fight for the long stalled Farthinghoe Bypass and the Towcester Relief Road.
He says the West unitary council is too Northampton focused, with the Southern end of the county overlooked, however he was one of the council leaders involved in the local government reorganisation which saw the borough and district councils replaced and he did vote for a unitary.
He explains: “I voted for the unitary but we had very little choice. It was preordained because the county council had crashed and our only choice was go with it and try and attempt to mould it into something that was workable, or have it forced on us.”
Other candidates standing in the South Northamptonshire constituency are:
Rufia Ashraf, Labour Party
Sarah Bool, The Conservative Party
Paul Hogan, Reform UK
Stuart Robert, Independent
Mick Scott, The Workers Party
Stewart Tolley, Liberal Democrats
Emmie Williamson, The Green Party
We were unable to contact the fifth independent candidate Stuart Robert.
What stands out is that three of those candidates are disillusioned former Conservatives. Suggests that there is something of a toxic culture in the local Tory parties in Northamptonshire.
I hope the voters of Northampton North will give Paul Clark the chance. He has a record of standing up to the Tory party failing machine locally and for calling out their cover-ups, shenanigans and corruption. The word corruption has many different connotations but in whatever guise it appears it is a cancer and it needs to be rooted out.
The Tories are done for and a "protest" vote for Reform is a vote for a party that specialises in racism & dog whistle politics. The party is led by the Putin appeaser Farage, a charlatan. Avoid like the plague.
That leaves Labour's Lucy Rigby, the classic lawyer turned career politician who has failed twice to win in Lincoln and previously was an Islington councillor. No track record to speak of and a very comfortably off champagne socialist. She is favourite to win the seat and after 4 July you can expect to see her next in Northampton (bar the occasional photo opportunity) in 5 years time looking for your vote. What she is saying in and about Northampton is exactly what she said in and about Lincoln. A broken record who will do nothing new for Northampton but quite a lot for her own career. The Westminster bubble awaits her.