Harriet Bronwen Yeo[1] is a British trade unionist, a former Treasurer and President ofTransport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA),[1][2] and aUK Independence Party (UKIP) politician who stood unsuccessfully for parliament inFolkestone and Hythe at the 2015 general election.[3]
Formerly aLabour politician, she was a member of theNational Executive Committee of the Labour Party until September 2013, and was national Chair of the Party for the year 2012–2013.[4] She was a councillor inAshford Borough Council,Kent, where she was Leader of the Labour Group until February 2015.[5][6] In 2012 she stood as Labour candidate forPolice and crime commissionerfor Kent.[1][7]
Yeo was deselected as a Labour candidate for the 2015 local elections and left to join UKIP the next day. She was also replaced as leader of Ashford Council's Labour group, after being accused of non-attendance at council meetings and a failure undertake council casework.[8]
In February 2015, she left the Labour Party, blamingEd Miliband's refusal to promise anEU In/Out Referendum,[5][9] and announced support for theUK Independence Party (UKIP) without becoming a member of UKIP, sitting as an independent councillor.[5][10] Her daughter had also left Labour to stand for UKIP in the2013 Kent County Council elections for the Ashford South division, an election where Harriet Yeo had also stood for Labour unsuccessfully in the Ashford East division.[6]
On 24 March 2015, it was announced that Yeo had joined UKIP and was to replaceJanice Atkinson, UKIP'sProspective parliamentary candidate inFolkestone and Hythe, who had been removed from UKIP the day before amid an alleged expenses fraud.[3] In the general election held on 7 May, Yeo came second in Folkestone and Hythe, losing toDamian Collins (Conservative) with 12,526 votes. Elections to Ashford Borough Council were held on the same day, but she did not stand for re-election there.[11]
The former Labour NEC chief tells Isabel Oakeshott how she was ousted from her union presidency by dirty tricks
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chair of theLabour Party 2012–13 | Succeeded by |
| Trade union offices | ||
| Preceded by Andy Bain | President of theTransport Salaried Staffs' Association 2011–2013 | Succeeded by Mick Carney |