Imogen Sinclair

THEY have no seats on the council, didn’t even have a candidate at a recent Town Hall by-election, trail wildly in the polls nationally and hardly get a mention in the local battle between Labour and Jeremy Corbyn.

But Conservative general election candidates Karen Harries and Imogen Sinclair say they aren’t giving up quite yet.

“We are going to fight for every vote. Let’s wait and see what happens on July 5,” said Ms Harries, who is standing in Islington North, when asked whether there was any point in her running.

Ms Sinclair, who is standing in Islington South and Finsbury against Emily Thornberry, added: “Nothing is a foregone conclusion. I think it’s important for the Conservative Party to have a full slate across the country. There are Conservative voters in Islington. It’s only dignified to offer them a Conservative candidate.”

Their optimism could be seen as slightly misplaced.

The Tories won just 10 per cent of the vote in Islington North in 2019, and 17 per cent in Islington South and Finsbury, but the candidates remained hopeful.

Ms Sinclair told the Tribune that she is the “candidate for change,” adding: “Emily Thornberry is the continuation candidate. I am an alternative.

“I am here as an advocate for Conservative values in Islington, for those who want to vote for a Conservative candidate, or for those people who have had enough of Emily Thornberry.”

Karen Harries

Ms Sinclair went on to insist Ms Thornberry was “out of touch”.

“I am a Conservative that stands for power to the people,” said Ms Sinclair. “Local Islingtonians want to have more power over their lives and their communities.”

She added: “I can appeal to a diversity of voters in Islington. They want stability for their family. They want family, community, and nation first.”

When reminded of the various crises created by the Tories in the past five years – partygate, Brexit, an economic crash – Ms Sinclair said: “Every government makes mistakes.”

She added that recovering from the pandemic and “getting Brexit done” were “remarkable” achieve­ments. “As we continue to think about various threats to our boarders, we can take steps to leave the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights]… if it is necessary,” she said.

Forty per cent of Islington residents were born outside of the UK compared to 17 per cent nationally.

Meanwhile, Ms Harries believes that the Corbyn-Labour split could open up the way for the Conservatives in Islington North.

She told the Tribune: “In Islington North, there’s one candidate running on an ego trip. He’s going to divide the vote and it’s going to make things quite interesting.”

Asked what it’s like to be a Tory supporter, living in a Labour stronghold like Islington, Ms Sinclair said: “I think it’s probably dis­heartening.”

She added: “I think there’s always been the ‘shy conservative’, that’s been a trend for decades.

“I think there’s a lot of people who don’t say who they’d vote for, it’s private and personal [but] I’m not embarrassed to be a Conservative.”