Liz Kendall refuses to join Leicester West hustings
Liz Kendall, the Labour candidate in Leicester West for the upcoming general election, will not appear at The Gazette hustings event after numerous attempts to contact her or her team.
For our 2024 general election coverage, we fully intended to run three hustings events across Leicester's constituencies with as many candidates in attendance as possible. It's traditional that local newspapers run these kinds of debates, giving ordinary people the chance to ask candidates questions in person. Hustings are a crucial part of the democratic process.
The Gazette is a relatively new community newspaper. We officially launched in March 2023 and tested the waters with election coverage in the 2023 local elections and, more recently, the 2024 police and crime commissioner elections. We've done everything to date on a completely voluntary basis and put in our spare time to keep Leicester informed. We're not perfect — but we're passionate and committed to the cause.
Then it came as a big disappointment to see the sitting Labour MP for Leicester West, Liz Kendall, flat out refuse to attend our first hustings — without explanation. This came after several attempts by phone, email and social media to contact her, or her team. Hustings are huge endeavours, requiring a lot of time and resources to get them off the ground. Again, we've been doing all this as volunteers.
Below is a timeline of our repeated attempts to contact Kendall and her team:
31 May, 2pm: We contacted all candidates by email, including Kendall, asking for their evening and weekend availability by Friday, 7 June. We received no response.
31 May, 5:34pm: A quick post to social media to urge candidates to respond after invitations were sent out:
All candidates in Leicester West + South have been invited to our #GE2024 hustings events! 🗓️
If you're a candidate + have NOT received an invite, email events@greatcentralgazette.org ASAP.
— Great Central Gazette (@TheGazetteCoop) June 4, 2024
6 June, 10:29am: We called Kendall's team directly. An automated response said her office was closed.
6 June, 12:10pm: Again, we followed up by email. At this point, five candidates had indicated their availability and Monday, 17 June evening time was the most preferred date. We received no response from Kendall.
6 June, 1:30pm: Called again. This time, someone picked up and said they would get back to us confirming her availability. We said we need a response no later than our deadline, 7 June. They acknowledged this.
6 June, 4:28pm: Having heard nothing back, we called again, and were hit by an increasingly familiar automated response… Closed.
7 June, 11:49pm: On the day of our deadline, we followed up by email again — and explicitly said we would follow up by phone later that day.
7 June, 12:57pm: We followed up by phone. Closed.
7 June, 1:17pm: We publicly urged Kendall and Conservative candidate, Max Chauhan, to respond:
Other parties have confirmed — local people are eager to hear from you.
Drop us an email ASAP: events@greatcentralgazette.org.
Public details to follow shortly...
— Great Central Gazette (@TheGazetteCoop) June 7, 2024
7 June, 3:10pm: Our deadline was fast approaching, and we needed to start marketing the event over the weekend to make sure people would actually book tickets. We called her office. Closed.
7 June, 3:59pm: We called one final time. Closed.
10 June, 9:15pm: Three days after our deadline, we get this email stating Kendall “isn't able to join the evening” without explanation:
11 June, 12:01pm: We respond by email, expressing our disappointment:
The Leicester West hustings on Monday, 17 June will still go ahead. We have confirmed candidates from One Leicester, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) and Reform UK will be there. It should be a lively debate.
We're incredibly disappointed in the lack of communication from Liz Kendall and her team. The invitation for her to attend is still open — but if she's a no-show, we will be empty chairing her. The same goes for any candidate who fails to show up. This is not a personal attack. It's important for candidates to make themselves available to voters in the run-up to the general election on Thursday, 4 July.
Chauhan has also yet to respond. But in fairness, the Conservative's announced his candidacy much later down the line. We're working hard to confirm his attendance. Likewise, we are doing our best to arrange hustings for Leicester East and Leicester South.
RSVP for the Leicester West hustings
Date/time: Monday, 17 Jun 2024 6:30 pm until 8:00 pm
Location: Church of the Martyrs, Westcotes Drive, Leicester, LE3 0QT
Rhys is a seasoned journalist, writer, and community organiser. As community lead, he works across fundraising, community engagement, daily operations and some editorial work too.
