Sarah Olney
 Sarah Olney     | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 1977 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | King's College London | ||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Ben | ||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Liberal Democrats | ||||||||||||||||||
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Sarah Olney is the former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Richmond Park who defeated Tory MP Zac Goldsmith in a by-election on 1 December 2016. Overturning his 23,015 majority, she took a fraction under 50% of the entire vote to record a majority of 1,872. Large numbers of local Labour voters backed her, with the Labour candidate, Christian Wolmar, losing his deposit.
In the June 2017 General Election Zac Goldsmith regained the seat, defeating Sarah Olney by a margin of 45 votes.[1]
Candidature confirmed
Sarah Olney was confirmed on 30 October 2016 as the Lib Dem candidate in the 2016 Richmond Park by-election, four days after being interviewed on the BBC's Daily Politics programme.[2]
She said overturning Zac Goldsmith's 23,015 majority was "incredibly doable" for the Lib Dems, who held the south-west London seat from 1997 until 2010, and finished second in the 2015 General Election.
Although Zac Goldsmith has said he wanted the vote, on 1 December 2016, to be a referendum on the government's decision to back a third runway at Heathrow airport, Sarah Olney, who also opposes Heathrow expansion, told Sky News:
- Brexit - which Zac Goldsmith backed, unlike most Richmond voters - would "obviously" emerge as another campaign issue.[3]
Shockwave
Sarah Olney said that voters had:
- “sent a shockwave through this Conservative Brexit government.”
She added:
- “And our message is clear: we do not want a hard Brexit. We do not want to pull out of the single market. We will not let intolerance, division and fear win.”[4]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Richmond Park prospective candidate: I would vote against Article 50 in Parliament | Statement | 4 November 2016 | Christian Wolmar | Statement by Labour Party prospective parliamentary candidate Christian Wolmar who aims to win the 2016 Richmond Park by-election |
References
- ↑ "Election Results 2017: Zac Goldsmith retakes Richmond Park"
- ↑ "@afneil asks @sarahjolney1 if she will still be Lib Dem candidate to challenge Zac Goldsmith in #richmondbyelection"
- ↑ "Sarah Olney to fight Richmond by-election for Lib Dems"
- ↑ "Richmond Park byelection: Tory Brexit voters switched to us, say Lib Dems"
