The husband of an Oxford city councillor has been elected MP for North Durham after she was accused of "racism" during his campaign trail.
Labour housing chief, Linda Smith, who represents Blackbird Leys, helped out campaigning in North Durham for her husband Luke Akehurst, who is a self-described Zionist and director of the 'We Believe in Israel' UK network group.
Last month while out campaigning in the northeast, Ms Smith was accused of "racism" after a video circulated online.
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She made the controversial remark "yours belong in Iran but we're not shouting about that" after someone said Ms Smith's politics "belong in the BNP (British Nationalist Party)".
A protester responded by asking whether the housing chief was "looking at the brown people when you say that?".
Ms Smith said the video, shared by the Newham Independents on X (formerly known as Twitter) was taken out of context and has been "wilfully misinterpreted".
Linda Smith during the confrontation (Image: Newham Independents.)
Her husband Mr Akehurst previously ran to be a city councillor for the St Mary's ward in 2021.
He stepped down from his role as a Labour councillor for the Chatham ward in the London borough of Hackney in 2014.
Speaking to the Hackney Post at the time, Mr Akehurst said he was moving to Oxford to be nearer to his wife's family.
Mr Akehurst won the seat in North Durham with a total number of 16,562 votes.
Previous Labour MP Kevan Jones did not contest the seat, being replaced by controversial candidate Mr Akehurst.
Accepting his seat, Mr Akehurst thanked the outgoing MP, saying that the amount of support for Mr Jones on from voters on the doorstep was a testament to his years of hard work for the County Durham seat.
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Mr Akehurt said: "He has been an exemplary constituency MP, fighting incredibly hard for local people and communities.
"The affection in which Kevin is held is is apparent to everyone canvassing.
"I can only hope to emulate his service to local people and communities."
He added: "I am proud to have worked for the last four years on Labour's National Executive committee, to change the Labour Party from a party that suffered one of its worst defeats ever in 2019 to what looks like being one of our greatest ever victories tonight.
"The county has chosen Labour and chosen change, and North Durham has chosen Labour and chosen change, and I can't wait to get on with the job that the people of North Durham have elected me to do."
41,727 total votes were cast in North Durham in total, with a 56.98 per cent turnout.
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