Local politics, Local government, Politics, Society, UK news Business | The Guardian
A career in politics was my dream, but the pressures were too great. Quitting was best for me and for those I was there to serveI hadn’t planned to quit being a councillor with an unceremonious, expletive-laden WhatsApp message to my ward colleagues. But after months of stress, the drunk version of me had forced my hand, and I couldn’t take it back.It didn’t start that way. When I was elected as a Labour councillor in Southwark in south London in 2022, it was the culmination of a lifelong dream. I had always been interested in politics. I was the teenager who watched BBC Parliament for fun, and in my leavers’ yearbook, alongside my ambitions to marry a wealthy man and own a pair of Christian Louboutin heels (it was the late 2000s), I wrote about a desire to sit in the Houses of Parliament. I was genuinely fascinated by our political system and knew its power to change lives in the way it had changed my own.Kimberly McIntosh is the author of black girl, no magic: essays and reflections on living whilst black Continue reading…
A career in politics was my dream, but the pressures were too great. Quitting was best for me and for those I was there to serve
I hadn’t planned to quit being a councillor with an unceremonious, expletive-laden WhatsApp message to my ward colleagues. But after months of stress, the drunk version of me had forced my hand, and I couldn’t take it back.
It didn’t start that way. When I was elected as a Labour councillor in Southwark in south London in 2022, it was the culmination of a lifelong dream. I had always been interested in politics. I was the teenager who watched BBC Parliament for fun, and in my leavers’ yearbook, alongside my ambitions to marry a wealthy man and own a pair of Christian Louboutin heels (it was the late 2000s), I wrote about a desire to sit in the Houses of Parliament. I was genuinely fascinated by our political system and knew its power to change lives in the way it had changed my own.
Kimberly McIntosh is the author of black girl, no magic: essays and reflections on living whilst black
