@POWNewcastleEastWallsend Hang on in there. Great oaks from little acorns grow.

Bloody hell. Glad.to hear you recovered, and my very best wishes to Kellie-Jay and her daughter, how terrifying.

Bloody brilliant! A huge well done.

*fewer

We could start a block the bots campaign (no funding needed) and speak up for human beings.

It gets a bit much when posters have to be more vigilent of delitions than MNHQ!

Brief explanation of why in this post at 10/05/2026 20:47 I said "I realise that I have not taken the opportunity to report how well POW did!" when much the same information is in my post at 09/05/2026 14:11

The Reason:

Mumsnet "disappeared" my 9th May post without a "Deletion Notice".

I didn't notice that that had happened. However, I did notice when it happened to a different post that I had made on a different thread.

So I posted on Site Stuff, querying the post that disappeared without trace, without a Deletion Notice. The answer was that Mumsnet "Deletions Bots" had incorrectly identified a "Fundraiser Link" in both posts. This was because I had included the phrase "more support would be welcome" close to the link to the Party of Women Membership Application page.

Mumsnet looked at both posts again, spotted the error and reinstated the posts.

I have never seen this happen before, ie. posts disappearing without a Deletion Notice.

Something for us all to be aware of but tricky to spot because of the lack of a Deletion Notice!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5527786-post-completely-disappeared-into-a-black-hole-ie-disappeared-not-deleted?reply=152239537

I realise that I have not taken the opportunity to report how well POW did!

I stood in Newcastle upon Tyne (Walker Ward) for Party of Women and beat

• Lib Dems x 3
• Tory x 1

This is the first time that I have stood in a Local Election in Walker.

I had help leafleting from Let Women Speak members living in Newcastle, North Tyneside, Co Durham and Northumberland - the latter LWS member also being my election agent.

We pushed leaflets through 1,600 letterboxes out of 5,700 in the Ward (28%), reaching approx 28% of 7,500 constituents (2,100).

(I have rounded those figures very slightly.)

Ballot papers returned: 2679 (Turnout 35.6%)

I got 75 votes: 3% of votes cast.

Theoretically:
• as I got 3% of the vote after reaching 28% of voters
• then I might have got just over 10% of votes if we had leafleted all voters.

That would also have put me ahead of two Labour and two Independents as well as the three Lib Dems and the Tory that I beat.

It really brings home to me how important it is to get Party of Women election leaflets out to people.

Assuming that my votes were due to our canvassing:

• over 10% of voters who received Party of Women leaflets voted for me!

💥💚💥🤍💥💜💥

Yes, and more than just suspected. Her daughter was critically ill with sepsis and had to be rushed to hospital more than once. Kellie-Jay was sleeping on the floor next to her bed for several nights.

Having had severe sepsis myself, I know how touch and go it can be whether you actually pull through or not - and why a mother would want to be by her daughter's side to make sure that she got the medical attention she needed.

Part of the reason I nearly snuffed it was that neither nursing nor medical staff realised how close to death I was and in dire need of intravenous antibiotics - or any antibiotics!

The only reason I am alive is that I was rambling on deliriously about the Doctor who had tried to save my mother's life 14 years earlier. The ward staff called him and it turned out he had become Deputy Medical Director and Head of ICU. He spotted that I had sepsis and spent most of the night pushing me around the hospital high-speed in a wheelchair getting me scanned, admitted to High Dependency and pumped full of antibiotics. I had multi-organ failure and would have been dead within a couple hours but for that lucky chance.

Goodness knows why the hospital discharged her daughter when she was clearly not over the worst. It took me two years to recover but I hope that, being so much younger, Kellie-Jay's daughter can recover more quickly. 🙏

Hi

I'm a paid-up member. Thank you very much for standing for women, @POWNewcastleEastWallsend 🌹 More strength to you.

In fairness to KJK , I think one of her kids has had suspected sepsis recently, which will have meant she's had more important stuff to deal with.

Try reading the thread and you will get your answer, rather than wildly speculating in a suspiciously negative fashion

👆

Was that KJK's party?

Could it be because last year they didn't get enough votes to get back their deposit?

Or that KJK got less votes than an independent trans woman?

IIRC didn't one or two of them get in trouble with the police?

She hasn’t mentioned pow in the last couple of years.

So you don't watch her livestreams? 🤔

That said, she has lots of fish to fry and gives her undivided attention to different projects when needed.

KJK is Leader of the Party of Women. That's an official thing, not an "Identify as . . . " thing.

Candidates are in daily contact with KJK but she does not micromanage. Her leadership style is as an enabler, as is very evident from the whole ethos of Let Women Speak.

Personally, I have have received a lot of support from Kellie-Jay. It had not occurred to me that it might appear from the outside as if she was not involved with POW Candidates' campaigns in the local elections. Her lack of visibility is primarily because there were no elections where she lives.

I hope that helps to explain how Kellie-Jay is at the centre of Party of Women. During the recent local elections it was POW Candidates who, obviously, were the face of Party of Women locally where we were standing.

Other parties have been criticised for making the local elections all about the Party Leader. I have only seen that locally with the Green Party, when one of the many GP leaflets and magazines that fell through my letter box was pretty much all about Zack Polanski with the local candidates being an afterthought.

At least no one can levy that criticism at Kellie-Jay.

In case anyone reading this is unaware, the reason POW Members and Candidates post on Mumsnet, rather than Kellie-Jay herself, is that she not on Mumsnet. She was permanently banned in 2018, during the Great Banning Spree that silenced so many women who were speaking out about the Conservative Government's Consultation on reform of the Gender Recognition Act.

Very useful break down.

Thanks

I hope that I can encourage women to stand in the next General Election but local elections are good practice in the meantime. They also help to raise the awareness of constituents that Party of Women exists and they prompt women to offer support.

This has happened each time that I have stood for election: women previously unknown to me have got in touch and asked how they can help now or next time.

A General Election is easier in some ways in that every candidate is entitled to free delivery by Royal Mail of one leaflet to every address in the constituency where a member of the household is on the Electoral Register. So no need to trudge the streets pushing leaflets through letter-boxes.

I have got a reminder in my Calendar every Monday to check the Newcastle upon Tyne Council website page where they list Notices of any by-elections I can stand for - which can be any Ward in the City, not just my own. That applies across the UK:

Local Elections: Qualifications and disqualifications for standing for election
www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-candidates-and-agents-local-government-elections-england/what-you-need-know-you-stand-a-candidate/qualifications-and-disqualifications-standing-election

There is always a very tight timetable from a by-election Notice of Vacancy to getting Nomination forms in so you need to be prepared to move quickly.

This list shows upcoming by-elections across the UK:
https://opencouncildata.co.uk/byelections.php

Things women can do now:

• Take out membership of Party of Women if you are not already a member: https://www.partyofwomen.org/memberships
• Complete the POW "Become a Candidate" Form: www.partyofwomen.org/become-a-candidate
• Check that list to see if there is a by-election coming up in your area.
• Find the Election Notices page on your Council website (and check it every week).
• Find two people to nominate you (they must live or work in the Ward where you are standing)
• Ask friends, family, Let Women Speak members within travelling distance to support you, eg. help deliver leaflets.
• Find someone to be your election agent - or decide to do it yourself
• The rules about the Election Agent's Office Address are quite complicated: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-candidates-and-agents-local-government-elections-england/what-you-need-know-you-stand-a-candidate/appointing-your-election-agent-and-other-agents/appointing-election-agent
• Previous POW Candidates and KJK will support you. ❤️

There is also lots of advice online, eg. from the Local Government Association, from "ElectHer", etc.

My post was more about asking were are POW and saying it will be where women who want it enough take on to do it.

If you are someone who hasn't or wont in the future then not sure you can complain.

These were council elections, I would have thought they are aiming to have candidates ready for the next general election

With the next GE in 3 years - or maybe sooner - wouldn't now be the time for those who think there should be a POW candidate for them to vote for in their constituency think well maybe I should do it?

🙄

You can only stand in a local election when there is a local election where you live. There are no local elections due where KJK lives until 2029. KJK has been supporting POW Candidates in the May 7th Local Elections.

Busy supporting Reform no doubt.

It has been a very different experience campaigning for the General Election and in local elections.

Most people are either startled to learn what has been going on or are aware and are supportive.

Most pushback we got in Walker, where I was standing, was when residents mistook our pink rosettes 🌸 for red Labour rosettes🌹 and changed their tune when we explained that we were campaigning for Party of Women and gave them leaflets.

This is an area that has been solid Labour since before dinosaurs roamed the earth!

Twice, local residents who lived in blocks of flats that were intercom-entry stopped to speak to us, were 100% in support and offered to take our leaflets and post them through letterboxes of their neighbours inside the block.

It has been similar when we have done Let Women Speak Table Events around the North East - even in Durham City (lots of posh male students in frocks wandering around) and Hexham (very middle class and woke).

It is KJK's presence that brings out the SWP-front "Anti-Racism" mob that organises the "Antifa" and "Trans Rights" lunatic protesters, supported by Lib Dems, Greens, Unions, etc.

There is also statutory protection for political candidates and police across the UK have designated officers to deal with any threats or intimidation.

It is a whole different scene to LWS Events attended by KJK.

Seeing the kind of verbal, emotional and physical abuse KJK (and anyone who associates with her) gets, I am hardly surprised we're not all falling over ourselves to stand as candidates.

Oh noo! I’m so sorry. I did get confused.