Sir Malcolm Rifkind claimed to an undercover reporter during a Telegraph sting operation that they would be surprised by how ‘much free time’ he has, despite being the MP for Kensington. One person who would not appear to be surprised by Rifkind’s admission is his Labour rival Dr Rod Abouharb.
Rifkind flaunting his free time, more evidence of him being the invisible MP for Kensington. Isn’t being an MP http://t.co/MO2iavJRYR
— Dr Rod Abouharb (@kensingtonrod) February 23, 2015
Speaking ten days before the allegations broke, the Labour candidate claimed that only 17 people out of 100 surveyed in the Kensington constituency could successfully pick out their MP from a line-up of eight. Abouharb, who is a lecturer at University College London, said this is because he is ‘not visible locally’:
‘People did not recognise him because he is not visible locally and does not spend time meeting constituents. They labelled him ‘the Honorary MP for Kensington’ and now it has stuck.’
He will be hoping that the ‘cash for access’ allegations against Rifkind, that led to the Conservative party suspending the whip from the MP, will give him hope of winning the seat for Labour. However, if he wants to avoid claims of ‘invisibility’ himself, he would do well to increase his social media profile. He has a mere 257 followers compared to Rifkind’s 2,586 followers.
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