North Northumberland MP's former press secretary quits Tory party

Berwick Town Councillor Georgina Hill, who, last August, was the subject of a Northumberland County Council standards committee which ruled that she had bullied the clerk, made the announcement to stand as an independent on Facebook last night.

Her page, on which she describes herself as ‘a whistleblower, transparency campaigner, standards botherer and represents St Boisils (Tweedmouth) on Berwick Town Council’, states:

‘I will not be renewing my membership of the local Conservative party and will be moving forward as an independent.

‘There are several reasons for this not least the party backing away from the local government reform and transparency agenda, deceit over Europe and failure to address the concerns facing ordinary working class people in Britain today (such as the tax credit fiasco).

‘I will be standing as an independent candidate for Berwick East in the Northumberland County Council elections and I will be able to look residents of Spittal and Tweedmouth in the eye and say that I will fight for their interests, totally unencumbered by (toxic) party politics.’

Ms Hill resigned as press secretary for north Northumberland’s Tory MP in September after becoming involved in a meeting of Rothbury Parish Council to which police were called.

At the time, Mrs Trevelyan said she was ‘horrified’ by the behaviour of Ms Hill and her subsequent comments on social media.