Georgia Gould - Labour's "red Princess"

Meet the Labour MP for Queen's Park and Maida Vale

Have you heard of Georgia Gould, the new Labour MP for Maida Vale & Queen's Park?

According to Tatler she’s the “‘red Princess’ who everyone is talking about”.

Really?

Perhaps this is the case in Westminster - but I suspect others around the country may need an introduction.

Labour Royalty

Tatler had a point when it deemed Gould the “red Princess”. She’s the daughter of Philip Gould (Baron Gould of Brookwood, who passed away in 2011), royalty as far as Blairites are concerned. As the publication explains:

Appointed by Peter Mandelson to lead the party’s strategy and polling for over two decades, Lord Brookwood was a close confidant of Tony Blair, a noblesse of New Labour associated with modernising the rose. Georgia’s mother, Baroness Gail Ruth Rebuck, is Chair of Penguin Random House, a Labour peer since 2014, and (according to Women’s Hour in 2013) the 10th most powerful woman in the country.

Gould Junior - although not a household name - is one of the most well known figures in Labour circles, not only because of her family connection to New Labour (of 90s fame), but having carved out her own career in Labour-run Camden Council, where she worked for over two decades.

Starting off as a councillor in 2010, Gould rose to become Camden’s leader for seven years, as well as becoming the Chair of London Councils (2020-24).

With Starmer almost a month before the General Election

Link here

When she resigned, comments flooded in from people telling her how wonderful she’d been in the role:

You get the impression Gould thinks she’s rather wonderful too. Upon resigning she said:

Leading Camden for seven years has been the absolute honour of my life. I have worked everyday to protect our communities. We have done so much. I’ve been so proud to lead this amazing diverse group of councillors, who are doing an amazing job for the borough.

…before reassuring that she was “leaving Camden in safe hands”.

Looking at photos on her social media, you might feel you’re reading a Huffington Post article about inspiring women…

… or had stumbled upon local government’s answer to Meghan Markle. There’s something of a “wannabe Princess Diana” vibe about Gould, as if you’re supposed to think “that Georgia; she’s so good at connecting with ordinary people”:

Why have I singled out Gould, anyway?

Gould was elected MP around the same time I made two visits to Camden (in June and July) and was shocked by its state (think Dante’s Interno). Therefore I was a bit perplexed by the hype surrounding the “red Princess”.

Gould had barely been an MP for a week when Starmer promoted her to Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office…

… and she was being quoted in the media on the relationship between local and national government. It’s clear that, due to her experience as leader of Camden Council, the political Establishment sees her as the authority on how to make these two areas of governance work together more effectively:

But does experience = expertise?

Like Gould, (who is from Kentish Town) I am a North London girl originally. I grew up in Islington (moving to Kent when I was 13) - and Camden has a somewhat special place in my heart. Aged 11 my mum would take me to the market on the weekends. I loved everything about it; the incense, the little market stalls and hunting for delicious noodles afterwards. You get the picture; I have lovely memories of a vibrant area.

Fast forward 20 or so years…

… and Camden looks completely different - as if Tracey Emin had been commissioned to turn her 1998 “My Bed” installation into a whole borough. When I visited this summer I thought of those mother-daughter days out - and concluded that we would have never gone if it had looked like it does now.

My photograph from June:

And some from mid-July of a homeless encampment under the bridge:

The same day (that I took the photos above), my friends and I went for lunch at a pub in Camden. While inside the restaurant, we were accosted by a man asking for money. Long story short, it was quite alarming as he wouldn’t go away (and appeared sober - aka cognisant of his actions).

*Incidentally, the food at Camden Road Arms is DISGUSTING. It’s a miracle I’m still alive (seriously, the sauce on my burger tasted like the sort of thing a medieval king might poison a rival with).

If you haven’t seen Camden recently, and went purely by Gould’s social media feed, you might be convinced it’s “such a special place”…

… where there’s “so much love & commitment”:

You might even believe that Camden is tidy:

Whereas this is the actual reality:

Given the state of Camden, if I had been its leader for seven years, I would probably hide in a bunker in the Isle of Wight (which is actually my plan if Putin invades or Britain has a civil war) out of sheer embarrassment - never mind despair over the borough’s disintegration. Let’s not forget, Gould is also the former Chair of London Councils (the collective of local government in London), so she has proved herself incompetent on multiple counts.

But the red Princess appears to be living on another planet, clearly believing that the whole country needs her political skills. Putting herself forward in June for the General Election, she promised “much needed national change”.

Upon winning her seat, Gould said “Today is the start of building a better future for our community and country.”

You’ve got to admire the self-confidence, really.

A socialist plea

In her maiden speech, Gould emphasised austerity’s impact:

My inbox and my surgeries are full of people facing the homelessness crisis and skipping meals to feed their family—all in walking distance of the Chamber.

Elsewhere, in her capacity as Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, she discussed “a perilous economic situation”, before making the case for investment in public services:

Value for money is critical to this Government. We want to make sure that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely. We are inheriting a perilous economic situation, and we need to invest in public services, but we also need to deliver social value, which includes workforce standards and environmental standards. That is how we deliver good growth.

But here’s what Gould’s idea of “Investing public services” looks like.

While people were “skipping meals”, Camden Council - the administration Gould led for seven years - spent £190,000 on an LGBT+ hate-crime charity whose activities include “rainbow kayaking”…

… and art workshops to celebrate “queer joy and creativity”:

You can read all about it here:

No one - in the mainstream media, at least - has asked why we’re supposed to be so impressed with Gould, nor what public sector reform we can expect from someone who left Camden looking like a crack den.

Best not to ask questions, I find. “Things can only get better”, after all…

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