Although the Conservatives have managed a successful expectation management campaign ahead of the local elections, were the Tories to lose control of Kensington council, it would be hard to spin it as anything other than a total disaster.
So, a letter from a former Conservative MP in today’s Evening Standard declaring his intention to vote Labour in the borough appears to be a taste of bad things to come. Keith Raffan – the Conservative MP for the Welsh seat of Delyn from 1983–92 – says he was left with no other choice after meeting two less than ideal Tory candidates:
However, before the Tories get too worried it turns out Raffan’s ‘defection’ isn’t such a scandal as the paper suggests. He has a history here – a staunch Remain-er, this isn’t the first time he has gone off the Tories.
In fact, after working as a Conservative MP, Raffan later defected to the Liberal Democrats – where he was elected a Lib Dem MSP.
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