Putney may have remained in Tory hands tonight but the presence of two unique candidates showed the different issues at play in the constituency.
The Green Party’s Ben Fletcher is the first ever deaf-blind candidate to stand in a general election and Lotta Quizeen is a performance comedian turned independent candidate who launched a campaigned for ‘kinder politics’.
Arriving at the count dressed in a full wig, vintage dress and glittery high heels, Ms Quizeen said: “My campaign was about bringing kind and caring leadership to politics.
“I don’t think it has to be a coalition of chaos.
“I think there are some good candidates out there offering an alternative view, I agree with the Greens and Caroline Lucas’s stance on job sharing and the environmental aspect of her campaign really appealed to me.”
“I did say that if Mr Corbyn came to power I would possibly pop round to number 10 and ask him to share nicely and if not I would bang their heads together and tell them very firmly that that’s what they should do.”
A strong anti-Brexit campaigner, she said: “It’s not like an election – we can’t just say we’ve had enough of Brexit will go back now.
“It’s like being lured into a brash cafe, you take a look at the menu, you see the prices, you think ‘there’s nothing on here I want and you realise you just didn’t want an all-day Brexit.”
Ben Fletcher stood to shed light on how Tory austerity has gravely affected disabled people across the country.
He said: “The Green Party really encouraged me and really supported me and the local party in Wandsworth.
“They were really excited about me standing and I think that other big parties are not interested in supporting disabled people in their parties.
“I’m very proud to be a member of the Green Party.
“1 in 6 of their candidates are disabled which matches the number nationally, that’s the only party with that statistic.
“Labour have never had a deaf candidate stand.
“The Green Party is really a perfect match for me because everything that they say in their policies is something that I really can believe in.”
