Junior minister and Hackney MP lines up for a bit of multi-tasking
COMMUTERS gasped as they saw MP Diane Abbott step into the driver’s cab of a London Overground train at Highbury and Islington station just ater the morning peak period.
There was, however, little to fear. The shadow public health minister, and member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, had simply decided to hold a photo-op to celebrate the East London Line’s link from Dalston Junction to the North London Line – she wasn’t really going to drive the train.
OK, she about about two months’ late in marking the link, only one journalist turned up (me), and his cameras (film – yes, ancient) weren’t working properly.
He’ll no doubt be told to boost the junior minister’s public profile: a much-loved public figure would usually be offered a seat but on the trip back to North London Abbott had to stand; she did not appear to be recognised.
David Altheer 300511
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