Teme Teme Wanga and I used to share an office building in Finsbury Park, north London. In one room was our constituency casework team, helping Islington North residents with the many problems they faced. Next door was the Congolese Community Council, which provided support for Congolese refugees. Our offices worked together to ensure people could get the help they needed. Teme is – and always has been – a pillar of the Islington community, and there are countless people in Islington who owe him a debt of gratitude. I am proud to say that I am one of them.
During the election campaign in Islington North, Teme spoke to hundreds of people to ask them to elect me as their independent MP. He didn’t sign up to our campaign’s “phone-banking” system, which asked volunteers to call up voters who had already expressed their support. He didn’t need to. He had his own contacts book, and called up his friends and neighbours one by one. Teme has dedicated his life to offering advice to his community; no wonder they listened to him when he explained why they should put a cross next to my name.
