Heidi Allen announces she won't stand at next election just weeks after Lib Dem move
3 min read
Heidi Allen has announced she will stand down at the next general election just weeks after joining the Liberal Democrats.
The South Cambridgeshire MP said she was stepping down because she was "exhausted" by "nastiness and intimidation" which had forced her to install panic alarms in her home.
Ms Allen resigned from the Conservative Party in February to join the newly formed Independent Group of MPs, but on 7 October she announced she was joining the Liberal Democrats and intended to contest her seat for the party.
However, in a statement on Tuesday, Ms Allen revealed she was quitting at the next general election regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's vote on a snap December poll.
"I have been your representative for four and a half years. During that time, we have had an unprecedented two general elections, a referendum and unbelievably a general election is now on the near horizon," she wrote.
"But more than all of that, I am exhausted by the invasion into my privacy and the nastiness and intimidation that has become commonplace.
"Nobody in any job should have to put up with threats, aggressive emails, being shouted at in the street, sworn at on social media, nor have to install panic alarms at home. "
She added: "Of course public scrutiny is to be expected, but lines are all too regularly crossed and the effect is utterly dehumanising. In my very first election leaflet I remember writing "I will always be a person first and a politician second" - I want to stay that way.
"So I have reluctantly come to the decision that I will not re-stand when the next general election comes.
Ms Allen said she would continue to work to bring together a "remain alliance" of anti-Brexit MPs adding: "I believe it is vital that both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn are denied a majority.
"I will work cross party in that endeavour with remain parties who are prepared to stand aside in the national interest."
The announcement comes as fellow former Tory MP Sam Gyimah, who also defected to the Lib Dems over Brexit, revealed he was planning to abandon his East Surrey seat to contest the Kensington and Chelsea constituency currently held by Labour's Emma Dent-Coad.
"Delighted to be the Lib Dem candidate for Kensington for the next GE," he said.
Mr Gyimah added: "The community deserves better than pursuing a reckless hard Brexit and out of touch with modern Britain and Corbyn's and their assault on property rights and pensions."
The former minister joined the anti-Brexit party in September after he was booted out of the Conservatives for backing a Commons bid to force a new Brexit extension.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mr Gyimah added: "What we bring are sensible pragmatic policies and getting things done. Throughout Brexit I’ve shown that I stand for the values that diverse, forward-looking people in Kensington share.”
The Kensington seat will be a key battleground in any election, with Ms Dent-Coad - who took the seat from the Conservatives in 2017 - holding it with a razor-thin 20 vote majority.
Responding to the announcement, Ms Dent-Coad told PoliticsHome: "Vote Lib Dem, get Tory. It can hardly be clearer."
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