Marie Martin (Lab-Canterbury)

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Name: Marie Martin
Avatar: Cate Blanchett

Age: 45
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Franco-British
Marital Status: Married
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Party: Labour
Political Outlook: Between Open Labour and Momentum
Constituency: Canterbury
Year Elected: 2017

Education: State School and then double majored in English Lit and French lit, got teaching qualifications
Career: Teacher (2000-2017)
Political Career:  Councillor (2011-2017)

 

She supported Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn in leadership elections and then supported Corbyn in 2016 as well but was critical of how he approached the Brexit campaign. She supported Corbyn in 2016 with belief that he needed an opportunity to prove himself and believed that Labour was gaining grounds in public with his radical approach even if she believed that there were issues with his style. She got elected as Canterbury's first Labour MP ever, a seat that was in Tory hands in every iteration since 1918 and this was Labour's most public win in 2017 election. She believed that Corbyn earned to chance to fight one more election as leader with 2017 result. She was extremely disappointed with how Labour Right behaved during all of Corbyn's leadership even if she agreed that Corbyn was making a mess of antisemitism issue and failing to address it. By the time Luciana Berger resigned and how Corbyn leadership and allies reacted to that she got completely disaffected with the leadership team. She is very pro-remain and voted consistently to stay within the customs union and single market. To this day she is still supporting the Norway solution and advocates for it. She is also an avid campaigner on human rights issues, LGBTQ rights and refugee rights. After Corbyn leadership she has backed Angela Rayner for leader and when she decided to run for deputy leader she has campaigned for Rayner. What was coming a bit shocking to many allies was that she first backed Emily Thornberry's run for leader then she backed Lisa Nandy for leader instead of Rebecca Long Bailey. She believed that while Rebecca Long Bailey is a good campaigner and valuable member of the party, she was too closely associated with Corbyn and does not believe it was what Labour needed. She put Starmer last in the ballot as she believes it's time for a female leader and both and Long Bailey would make better leader than Starmer. Since Starmer was elected as leader she has pledged to back Starmer and give him the opportunity that was not afforded to Corbyn and has been displeased with some elements of Campaign Group's rather disingenuous attacks on Starmer.