Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has hit out at the “disgrace” of Richard Holden standing in the constituency of Basildon and Billericay, and claimed what happened with his seat should “never happen again”.
The Tory Party Chairman previously denied being involved in a “stitch-up” after being parachuted into the Essex constituency, which had a Conservative majority of over 20,000 in 2019.
Discussing the constituency ahead of its election result on GB News, former Labour MP Luciana Berger said the placing of Holden in Basildon and Billericay “characterises the campaign that we’ve seen” from the Tories “over the last five weeks”.
Hitting out at Holden, Berger fumed: “It’s quite embarrassing, to have the party Chairman insert himself in a completely different constituency makes a mockery of our politics.”
Kwasi Kwarteng said the Conservatives placing Holden in Basildon and Billericay was a ‘disgrace’
GB News
Berger added: “It’s a reflection of a party that just seems to insert itself.”
Speaking out against the Tories, former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng weighed in on Holden and said the party’s decision was a “disgrace”.
He told GB News: “I’m going to be honest, what happened with Richard Holden was a disgrace.
“To be presented with one candidate, the local authorities… I remember someone had three candidates. Parties have done this all the time.”
When asked by host Camilla Tominey what Kwarteng is implying by his remarks against Holden and if he should “deserve to lose the seat”, the former Chancellor denied her claim.
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Kwarteng responded: “Nobody deserves to lose, I want him to win. But the party should not… I’m going to stick my neck out.
“I’m not going to pretend that everything is rosy in our garden, because it’s not. But that should never happen again.”
Former Labour MP Steve McCabe shared his thoughts on Holden’s move to the Essex constituency and claimed it was “very underhand” by the Tories to make the decision.
McCabe revealed: “It’s not unusual for people who go in the chicken run to get a bad result.
Kwasi Kwarteng said Holden’s move by the Tories should ‘never happen again’
GB News
“The problem here is he also appeared to do it in quite an underhand way. And that’s why he’s been punished.”
Kwarteng added: “If my local party had been presented with one candidate and no choice, they would have been up in arms.”
