The Sad Fate of Party Defectors

I have been pondering on the sad fate of party defectors. Brent has seen a number of these over the years. Kensal Green's own Bertha Joseph follows in the footsteps of previous luminaries Poline Nyaga and Nkechi Amalu-Johnson. The common pattern is that they join their new party with a fanfare, often being given some extra appointment or money (or both in the case of Bertha Joseph), and then start a long slide into obscurity.

The first defector on Brent Council for some years was Cllr Carol Shaw. She was first elected as a Conservative councillor in Cricklewood. After falling out with her Tory colleagues she leapt into the arms of Sarah Teather during the Brent East by-election. I expect she hoped to be rewarded with office if the Liberal Democrats gained power in Brent. By 2006, however, most of her usefullness was over, and she remains an isolated figure in the Lib Dem group, when she attends any Council meetings at all.

The second was Bertha Joseph, whose departure from the Labour Group I found a great relief. The sheer eccentricity of her demands to be invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party were just embarrassing. I dare say that many of her new Tory colleagues felt similar embarrassment when she used the first Full Council meeting after her departure to refer to herself as a "black witch" and promised that she would "cast spells over you". Of course, Boris Johnson now needs her vote to control the London Fire Authority, so she will have a short while left in the limelight. However, I notice that the Conservative Party does not seem to be giving her any support in Kensal Green, not even a single leaflet since immediately after her defection. The Tories certainly don't seemed to be much bothered whether she survives as a councillor.

Saddest of all is Francis Eniola, who defected most recently, but has disappeared more completely than of the others.

Given that this is the pattern for all these defectors, it makes me wonder why they do it in the first place.