Local elections aren’t exactly the most glamorous of affairs but there’s usually a sprinkling of celebrity stardust to enliven the occasion. This year it has been in short supply, with Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman and Carrie Johnson’s lockdown-defying friend Ben Mallett supplying infamy, in lieu of charisma. But now Mr S has discovered an unlikely connection between the seismic events in Westminster – where the Tories lost the council for the first time ever – and a popular millennial YouTube star.
Labour’s efforts in Westminster were spearheaded by PR guru and longtime councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, who wrote the account of the borough’s ‘homes for votes’ scandal of the 1980s and 1990s under Shirley Porter. He has sat on the council for 25 years, watching no less than six Tory leaders come and go. This morning’s victory then came as sweet relief, with Dimoldenberg being filmed punching the air in delight at news that Labour had taken the bastion of Hyde Park in Westminster. Now he will sit on the council of the new socialist republic of Wandsworth under the leadership of Simon Hogg – a former Daily Telegraph colleague of one Boris Johnson.
Dimoldenberg’s campaign was no doubt helped by a last minute election post from his daughter Amelia, known to millions as the face of the popular ‘Chicken Shop Date’ series online. The concept sees her interview celebrities in, er, chicken shops across the capital. Amelia declared that on Instagram that ‘if like me you’re unhappy with the present government this is your chance to protest’, attacking the ‘brutal Conservative cuts’ and declaring that ‘real lasting, positive change starts from the grassroots’.
Such a post prompted a flurry of delight from the usual gushing Corbynistas, with both Zarah Sultana and Grace Blakeley leaving admiring messages underneath. Perhaps such stardom offers a way forward for Labour on the national stage too: goodness knows Starmer could do with it. Once his party had ‘cool Britannia’ and Noel Gallagher in No. 10 – perhaps next election it will be TikTok and vloggers carrying Sir Keir to power?
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