|
|
 |
| |
 Georgia Gould (far right) pictured with Margaret Hodge (second from left) in 2003 |
From stressed out student to youngest MP in Parliament?
Georgia Gould met Margaret Hodge on a school trip – now she’s following in her footsteps
IN the pages of the school yearbook, Georgia Gould would surely have been one of the girls most likely to... become an MP.
The daughter of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s favourite pollster, she grew up in Camden Town with the architects of successive Labour governments all around her.
And now just six years after leaving Camden School for Girls (CSG) in Sandall Road to embark on a degree at Oxford University, she is said to be gearing up to become one of the party’s youngest-ever MPs. She is just 22.
Ms Gould – her father is Lord Gould – is among the hopefuls looking to stand at the next general election in Erith and Thamesmead in east London, which is considered a safe constituency and a guaranteed path to Parliament.
The long-standing MP John Austin is retiring and an all-woman shortlist is being put in place to find his potential successor over the next few weeks.
If elected, this New Journal photo could turn out to be the historic moment when the ambitious Ms Gould, whose parents now live in Regent’s Park, publically took on her first political challenge.
Back in 2003, we pictured her on the front page with three classmates – one of whom just happened to be Alex Birtles, daughter of former health secretary Patricia Hewitt – on a school visit to see the then education minister Margaret Hodge.
Angry at the “stress and pressure” of her exams, Ms Gould challenged Ms Hodge over the wisdom of AS-levels.
Ms Gould, then 16, said: “The sixth form should be about enjoying my subjects, not just about exams.”
She added that she was having “sleepless nights” but Ms Gould need not have fretted.
As former schoolmates recall, she aced her exams and headed to one of the top colleges at Oxford.
She is now pursuing further studies at LSE.
Some local activists in Erith have grumbled that her links to high office have given her an unfair leg-up. It has even been suggested Lord Gould’s old friend Alastair Campbell, another from the Camden fraternity, has taken an interest in her campaign.
But Lord Gould insists there is no nepotism at work. “She is doing this on her own. I am hugely proud of her,” he said at the weekend.
Meanwhile, Camden’s own Labour Party members were coy about speaking about their young comrade this week. Several claimed she had not just waltzed into pole position for a safe seat.
“It would be unfair to say she hasn’t done anything,” said one source.
“Before she went to uni, she’d be out canvassing and leafleting, and mucking in at election time. People appreciate that. Some people naturally go off to do different things and opportunities open up.”
Haverstock School in Chalk Farm claims Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and his brother Ed, among its alumni. It hasn’t escaped the notice of long-serving Labour members that Camden School for Girls may have a similar boast in years to come. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
