ANOTHER LABOUR ACTIVIST BACKS RENDEL

2.45.29pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 18th Apr 2005

A prominent former Labour activist, Mr Christopher Kemp, who now lives in North Newbury, has joined the Liberal Democrats.

Christopher Kemp was a member of the Labour Party for 35 years. He was a Labour Party parliamentary agent in 2 General Elections and is a former Labour Party constituency chairman in 2 parliamentary constituencies.

Christopher Kemp said:

"One of my main reasons for leaving the Labour Party was that the changes in the way that the Labour party, local government and parliament were run were incompatible with what I thought was democracy.

"My one regret since then was that having already resigned I couldn't then resign over the Iraq war!"

Christopher Kemp's joining of the Liberal Democrats follows hot on the heels of last week's statement of support for David Rendel by Richard Hall, the former Labour Party candidate for Newbury in 1992.

David Rendel, commenting on Mr Kemp's support, said:

"I warmly welcome Christopher to the Party and hope he will spend many happy years here.

"Last week it was a former Labour candidate who said he supported me. This week it is a former agent and constituency chairman with over 35 years' membership standing who has decided to come and join us.

"The press reported last week that even their current candidate said he would prefer to be independent of the Labour Party whip - clearly then even he is finding it difficult to support Tony Blair's policies.

"Both Labour and Tory voters in Newbury are increasingly saying that the best way to oppose Tony Blair is to vote Liberal Democrat."

ENDS

NOTES:

Christopher Kemp, aged 60, was a member of the Labour Party from 1962 to 1997. He was the Labour Party agent for the Chingford constituency at the October 1974 and 1979 General elections, and election agent for Labour candidates in local elections in Essex, Nottinghamshire and Brighton. He chaired the Rushcliffe constituency Labour Party for 2 years during the late 1980s and Brighton Pavilion Constituency Labour Party for about 18 months during the early 1990s.

Labour gained 7% of the vote in the Newbury Constituency in 2001 and stand no realistic chance of winning here in 2005. The website, www.tacticalvoter.net, says (on Newbury): "The Liberal Democrat MP here is at risk from the Conservatives. By swapping to vote Lib Dem, Labour supporters can make sure they avoid electing a Conservative to Parliament."