What kind of Tory is Katie Lam?

By David Ward

The Conservative candidate for the Weald of Kent is Katie Lam. Who is she and want kind of Tory does she claim to be? Lam is new to Kent, was brought up in Guilford, went to Cambridge University, and worked at Goldman Sachs. Her main Conservative roles have been working as Deputy Chief of Staff for Boris Johnson with Dominic Cummings and then Special Adviser to Suella Braverman at the Home Office.

There is a common characteristic in all Lam’s behind-the-scenes roles: all her bosses—Johnson, Cummings, and Braverman—were discredited and forced from office for breaking rules. It seems that disrespecting the Ministerial code and ignoring rules applied to the rest of us is an irresistible feature of modern Conservatives. Ashford Tory Damian Green had to quit as a Minister for breaking the rules as well. That’s why Weald of Kent Labour Party wrote to Lam last December to ask if she accepted that breaking the ministerial code should always require resignation. She hasn’t replied.

The Tories today are deeply divided. The party is split into at least five warring ‘mafia families’. But which faction will Lam side with? We have no idea. If elected will she join the loopy ‘Popcon’ followers of Liz Truss, the hard right ‘Common Sense’ Group, the Brexit obsessed ‘European Research Group’, the Thatcherite ‘No Turning Back’ Group, or perhaps the feeble and outflanked ‘One Nation’ Tories led by Damin Green? Do voters in the Weald of Kent care? Perhaps not. But we deserve to know Lam’s views about the Tory party and its future. Who will she support given the likely ousting of Rishi Sunak from the Conservative leadership after the election? Will she back her former boss Braverman?

The only news Lam made when working in 10 Downing Street was when Boris and Carrie Johnson’s dog Dilyn apparently relived himself over her handbag ! But apart from ‘Dilyn’s ‘watergate’ we really know nothing about Lam’s political views at all. Her social media since she was selected have looked more like a tour guide’s impression of the Weald of Kent rather than a prospective MP. You will find gushing descriptions of our villages but no engagement with the serious issues people living here face. What will Lam do about the cost of living crisis, our failing NHS, our pothole crisis, disappearing bus services, the shortage of affordable housing, the lack of local policing, and the chaos their botched Brexit is causing to our exporters, farmers, and the channel ports?

Lam is silent on all these issues and hopes to win election in the Weald of Kent by saying as little as possible. Voters here deserve better. If she succeeds Lam will very likely be joining the opposition back benches of a defeated and divided Tory party. Her practical ability to represent the interests of the people of the Weald of Kent will be far less than an MP from the governing party. That’s why on July 4th voters here should vote wisely, support change, and vote for Lenny Rolles, Labour’s excellent candidate for the Weald of Kent