Labour have been accused of “parachuting” in a member of the party’s elite on voters in a crucial by-election which could set the tone for general election later this year.
Instead of going for one of a number of potential local candidates in the Kingswood by-election on February 14, Labour have dipped into a south London neighbourhood packed with senior members of the party.
Lewisham Mayor Damien Egan has been picked to try to win the Kingswood seat in Gloucestershire off the Conservatives in a by-election called after the resignation of former minister Chris Skidmore who objected to Rishi Suank issuing new licences for oil and gas exploration.
Egan lives just streets away from Labour shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, her sister and fellow shadow cabinet member Ellie and London Mayor Sadiq Khans’ former transport advisor, Heidi Alexander, in a home valued at £753,000.
One Tory source told Express.co.uk: “The Lewisham Labour Luvvies are second only to the north London cabal in terms of influence within the party.”
The average price of a house in Kingswood is £297,673 and there are questions over why Labour snubbed local candidates including two former mayors.
According to his manifesto when he ran for the £80,000 gig as Mayor of Lewisham in 2018, Egan told voters “Lewisham is his [my] home”, and he pledged as his “highest priority” to be a “Mayor for the community”.
Egan – who has been at the very top of Lewisham and London politics for 14 years after being elected as a Councillor for Lewisham Central in 2010.
Now he has dramatically quit as Mayor of Lewisham, triggering a by-election in the inner London borough, just hours after being selected to contest a by-election 120 miles and a three hour drive away from the place he called his home.
Kingswood Labour rejected the Labour Mayor of the West of England, Dan Norris, who was named Mayor of the Year in 2023, and the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Reeves in favour of the man already being dubbed “the Lewisham luvvie”, who is understood to be close to party leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Luke Hall, Tory MP for nearby Thornbury and Yate, said: “This is typical Labour – selecting the £80,000 a year Mayor of Lewisham who calls London his home and lives a three-hour drive away from Kingswood as their candidate.
“The fact that they have passed over two local Labour mayors in favour of a Lewisham Labour luvvie shows how little they actually care about the issues facing the people of Kingswood.
“Lewisham is one the worst boroughs in London for knife crime, thefts, and services, all under his watch as Mayor. Do we really want that repeated here?”
Matt Pitts, 33, who has lived in the Kingswood constituency his whole life and is a tutor for Maths, Physics, and Chemistry, said: “We’re a close-knit community here, and we don’t want to be taken for granted, with a Londoner forced on us.
“I just don’t get how a London Mayor, from Lewisham, can represent us here in Kingswood– they’ve rejected local people.
“It seems to me that the Labour candidate has no idea of what the local issues are, and is only doing it for his own publicity, using our area to further his own career.”
Speaking after his win, Mr Egan said: “I’m honoured to have won the support of Labour members in Bristol North East.
“This is where I’m from and I can’t wait to meet everyone, hear what issues matter most and make a real difference.”
Egan is also known to be on the right of the Labour Party while his opponents were on the left with Sir Keir trying to modernise the party and lose the legacy of Jeremy Corbyn.
The Tories are set to pick their candidate this weekend.
