By Gaelle Legrand & Kassandra Jimenez-Sanchez
December 13 2019, 12.00
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Labour’s losing candidate in Croydon South Olga Fitzroy spoke of her sorrows moments after learning her result.
Olga Fitzroy lost by 12,339 votes to Conservative candidate Chris Philp.
Ms Fitzroy said: “I’m devastated about the national result, there’s loads of people in this country who need a Labour government and I think we’ve failed them.
“I think it’s probably down to a combination of things. At this point I’ve been up for 24 hours so I’m not sure I can get some coherent thoughts in here, but I think we all need to reflect, and it’s clear that change is needed.”
Asked if she will stay in politics, she said: “Absolutely I’ll stick with Labour, but I plan to have a little bit of time off and prepare for Christmas with my family.”
Ms Fitzroy also congratulated her major opponent Chris Philp and the others candidates on Twitter.
The re-elected MP for Croydon South praised Ms Fitzroy too, quoting her “genuinely decent and conviction-based campaigns. They exemplify what is good about our political system.”
Olga Fitzroy, studio engineer and executive at The Music Producers Guild, ran for the first time in the constituency, believing Labour to be ‘the best placed party but it’s an uphill battle’.
She was encouraged to pursue her political career following her many achievements.
Among her other battles, Ms Fitzroy founded the Parental Pay Equality campaign in 2017. #SelfieLeave addresses the rights for self-employed parents to take shared parental leave, an issue close to her heart as a mum to four-year-old Lucas. She was then accepted on the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme set up in memory of the murdered MP.
She was recognised by the BBC last year as the 11th most powerful woman in music alongside Beyoncé and Adele.
In Stormzy’s borough, Olga Fitzroy was hopeful that Croydon South would turn red, just like neighbouring constituencies.
