The wife of former Kent County Councillor Daniel Taylor, who was jailed in February for 12 months for controlling or coercive behaviour towards her, says she is distressed at what she feels is the use of her situation for ‘political gain’.
Mrs Taylor has lodged complaints with East Thanet MP Polly Billington, the Labour Party, Thanet council and Kent County Council over by-election campaign material that she says makes her ‘the main part’ of Labour’s campaign to gain the county council Cliftonville division seat vacated due to her husband’s imprisonment.
Mrs Taylor says she was not approached, or warned, that her traumatic experience would be used as part of Labour candidate Joanne Bright’s campaign, as part of the focus on her work to prevent violence against women and girls.
Mrs Taylor says receiving campaign leaflets to her home on more than one occasion, which were seen by her daughter, and having Labour Party members filming at the bottom of her road while talking about her case has set their recovery back significantly.
Mrs Taylor said: “The leaflet delivered to my home took me over the edge, This isn’t about politics, I’m not a political person at all, but what they have done is made this the main part of their campaign but they have completely bypassed the people it affects.
“No-one even told me, I found out when this was in my letterbox and things were put on Facebook. It’s about my situation but no-one has spoken to me, they put this through my letterbox but had not bothered to tell me. My daughter saw it as well and I found the insert quite personal to me, it’s disgusting that this was put through my door twice.
“They have used me for political advantage but they do not know what happened, they never bothered to find out, they never bothered to ask.”
Impact and isolation
Mrs Taylor says the impact of the case and her husband’s prison sentence has meant losing her business, mounting debt, struggling to keep her house, illness and isolation with herself and her daughter rarely venturing out.
She says she is also upset at how her case has been portrayed as one of physical violence.
She said: “There are so many things being said that are wrong. Daniel never physically harmed either myself or my daughter so it is disrespectful and misleading to repeatedly describe him as “violent” when this does not reflect our lived experience.”
She says she is particularly upset at a letter published to social media by the MP that she felt purported to speak for her as the victim, castigating another councillor for saying ‘no-one knows what goes on behind closed doors,’ and claiming this was supporting an abuser.
In her letter to Polly Billington, Mrs Taylor said: “This statement was factual, not offensive to me, and certainly not supportive of Daniel. It simply reflects the truth that unless someone is present, they cannot know the full reality of a situation. For you to publicly attack this comment while claiming to speak on behalf of “the victim” is deeply inappropriate, especially given that you have never contacted me, supported me, or attempted to understand my experience.”
Mrs Taylor says she is not aware of domestic abuse forming any part of Labour’s campaign before the Cliftonville by-election caused by her husband’s imprisonment. However, Labour councillor Joanne Bright has worked to raise the issue prior to the by-election, bringing a motion to Thanet council in February last year and arranging a VAWG (violence against women and girls) conference in March last year.
In her complaint letter Mrs Taylor says she is seeking a formal written apology; an explanation of why no safeguarding, welfare checks, or support were offered before her situation was used in campaign material and public statements; a clear account of the decision‐making process that led you to the use of her situation in political communications; confirmation of steps the MP and Party will take to ensure that no other victim of domestic abuse, or their family, is treated in this way and financial compensation for the distress caused to her daughter.
‘Holding to account those who commit acts of violence against women and girls’
East Thanet MP Polly Billington said: “My office has advised Mrs Taylor that the matters raised in her complaint are currently under review by the appropriate authorities and a substantive response will be provided once this review is complete. My thoughts remain with her and her child.
“As has been widely reported, a Reform UK councillor was arrested just one month after his election to Kent County Council, and subsequently charged with three offences: Threatening to kill his wife; sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message to his wife; and repeatedly or continuously engaging in behaviour which was controlling or coercive towards his wife from January 2016 to July 2025. He was convicted of behaving in a controlling or coercive way towards his wife in February 2026, and received a sentence of 12 months in prison.
“Controlling or coercive behaviour is an insidious and under-recognised form of domestic abuse, and I will never shy away from holding to account those who commit acts of violence against women and girls.”
Daniel Taylor, 35, was jailed at Margate Magistrates Court on February 20 this year for the offences, triggering the by-election which takes place this Thursday (April 9).
He was initially elected to the seat on a Reform UK ticket but sat as an independent after his arrest last year came to light.
The division covers the Thanet district wards of Cliftonville West, Cliftonville East, Kingsgate and Beacon Road.
There are six candidates vying for the seat – Joanne Bright (Labour), Rob Yates (Green) Marc Rattigan (Reform) Charlie Leys (Conservative), Dr Mo Shafaei (Lib Dem) and Lucy Gray (Ind).
Interesting. Looking forward to Mrs Bright’s response.
Peter – what response ? If she is anything like her husband a load of billshine will float to the top
I suspect that even Ms. Whitehead will remain silent on this one!
Shame, Labour Party has only been keen on negative campaigning in this election
This is not just negative campaigning, its using a woman and her childs highly traumatic experience for political gain. Its absolutley not acceptable and I hope she gets the apology she deserves. Have they no moral compass.
The community has noticed and the campaign for this by-election by Labour has been the worst. My heart goes out to this poor victim. Polly and Joanne should be ashamed of themselves.
Advocacy should never come at the expense of the individuals it affects, and local representation must be grounded in understanding, accountability, and respect.
Maybe Mrs Bright (or not so bright) should step down from the election. She campaigns on protecting women but has clearly had the opposite effect with her negative election campaign. Its disgraceful, it really is.
I think he is still controlling you. You know what needs to be done.
1. Parties put material through letterboxes in the voting area-I doubt there is any special rule that would exempt her.
2. One assumes that the claims made in the material are all a matter of public record via the court details & his conviction-with the details & evidence she gave to the prosecutors.
3. Since this is the case, why would Labour need to approach her to get her permission get the story she has already told & is a matter of public record?
4. Financial compensation for her daughter? Her daughter was no doubt witness to these events happening & has had to sit through a trial where it was all detailed-one believes the mother & potentially the daughter had to give evidence, so how would this be any extra hardship to deserve money?
5. He was never physically violent-well even if anybody actually believes that & it is not the common behaviour of a controlled domestic abuse victim trying to mitigate for him, then he still threatened to stalk her like prey & kill her, by forcing her into a car boot & then setting the car on fire-so emotional violence threatening physical violence. So nothing inaccurate.
6. Politics is about propaganda, soundbites & publicity stunts-whether it is waving flags & pretending you care one fig about football & other sports for brownie points, blaming all the woes of the nation on certain groups of disadvantaged people that have always been easy targets-boat arrivals/disabled/lone parents/unemployed etc, greenwashing, pretending to care about certain groups-even if your recent policies were to attack them etc.
7. Not a political person-sorry, but you were & still are married to an elected politician. Regardless of whether you helped his campaign physically in any way-vouched for him in public, put leaflets through doors etc-you allowed him in the first paragraph of his election gambit to tell everybody he was a devoted family man & then go on about families & loved ones being safe & happy-while he had of course been doing the total opposite for a decade & was a total hooligan.
A few key points are being confused here:
Public record does not remove the need for consent when using someone’s situation in political messaging.
Legal availability of information is not the same as ethical use — especially in sensitive cases.
Safeguarding responsibilities remain, particularly where a child is involved.
This is not about compensation or disputing evidence — it’s about control over personal narrative and avoiding harm.
The issue isn’t whether the case exists — it’s how it’s being used.
I have felt very uncomfortable about the tone of the Labour campaign since the beginning, feeling that it exploited the poor, abused women’s situation.
I have also thought that there has been a slew of Labour announcements, local and national, which seemed deliberately designed to bolster the Labour candidates campaign – particularly the playground and skatepark announcements which as far as I can ascertain she had no part in and no personal responsibility for, she only been in politics a couple of years.
Dirty or desperate tactics?
Labour’s campaign has been nothing short of disgraceful. Let’s hope the voters of Cliftonville Ward let them hear the message loud and clear.
Yes-but that is politics, always has been & always will be-opportunistic vultures looking for any advantage.
Let’s not forget Polly & every other Labour MP voted against a proper investigation into grooming gangs not that long ago, until another forced U-Turn from Starmer, they could care less about protecting & helping women-just about covering their history of ignoring/victim blaming & not upsetting certain groups of voters.
“Let’s not forget Polly & every other Labour MP voted against a proper investigation into grooming gangs not that long ago”
That’d be because the Tories spent seven years and a few hundred million doing an inquiry, the results of which showed white british men as the biggest proponents of groomin gangs at around 86% and the report into which, was forced to be released by court order as Suella Braverman sat on it and was refusing to release it because it didn’t play into the bigotry fuelled demonisation of asians, right? The same report the Tories refused to implement the findings of, all whilst holding out to pass the buck to labour, that inquiry?
I would hope white British were the biggest problem-seeing as they make up far & away the majority of the population.
However it is ludicrous to claim that many Midlands & Northern Labour voting areas where whites are a minority, or certain nationalities have rapidly increased & virtually every name in the grooming gangs making the news are Ali, Rashid, Khan etc are really white guys called Smith, Davis, Brown etc.
Another problem is because of the culture of fear many forces have not even bothered recording the ethnicity of the people accused, though one suspects the names would have been a giveaway. Baroness Casey’s 2025 audit showed two thirds of grooming gang perpetrators ethnicity are still not recorded & thus such claims as 86% are white is in reality not reliable & indeed ethnic minorities seem to often be greatly represented in certain areas-On the question of ethnicity, the report said: “We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data”. However, it added that at a local level for three police forces – Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire – there was enough evidence to show a “disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation”.
I am not for one second implying that the Tories are any better-these gangs have been operating under both Labour & Tories since the Thatcher era, with them looking the other way, blaming the victims etc, all to avoid offence/keep things sweet &/or not risking any monetary issues over business deals being pulled in response etc. It was however rather telling that not one Labour MP voted for it & very few even bothered to abstain.
It’s also interesting in the light of Ms. Billington’s recent newsletter, in which she lauds her glorious leader’s stance on Iran and vilifies those of the Tory and Reform leaders that, she has never made any statement of solidarity with the persecuted and marginalised women of Iran or any of the hundreds of millions ofother women marginalised globally by the legal systems that bow to the fourth Sura of the Qur’an. Female solidarity for her kind only stretches to Socialist graduates it would seem? Women are just political tools to be used. Whilst the other parties which remain from the 20th century have all had female leaders, Labour has only ever had males?
We may yet see Angela “boob job” Rayner as PM!
The Tories chose Lettuce Liz to replace Bozo, wouldn’t surprise me to see Labour choose the hero of the working classes who tries to dodge tax, takes ‘freebies’ from Lord Alli & anybody else who is offering them & lives like a true Gauche Caviar Bourgeois to replace spineless Stalin.
Oh look, harry the reform sock is taking issue that a woman isn’t behaving exactly how he feels entitled to them behaving. How on brand.
I believe Polly was sticking up for the Iranian women’s football team & talking about their rights, at the same time she was getting outraged over the Tories talking about a gang-rape of a 16 year old girl in Ramsgate at a pizza joint from the 2010’s & voting against a UK grooming gang inquiry for young British victims of grooming gangs last January.
Joanne Bright has weaponised Ms Taylor’s experience: that’s politicians for ya!
We saw Rosie Duffield hounded out of the Labour Party for her views on gender that did not sit well with the Labour party policy. What is a women? Labour still confused. She now sits as an independent MP for Canterbury. Her resignation letter says it all.
https://news.sky.com/story/rosie-duffields-resignation-letter-in-full-13224368
The Labour Party are revolting, using this woman to gain an advantage, people from all political persuasions carry out violence against women and girls. Abhorrent behaviour!
I hope this Mother is seeking legal advice.
Also in todays news
The former leader of Melton Borough Council has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, it has been revealed.
On Wednesday, Leicestershire Police said it was investigating an allegation of sexual assault against a 75-year-old man, understood by the BBC to be Labour councillor Pip Allnatt.
The force said it was investigating a report that a woman was assaulted at a business premises in Melton Mowbray on 12 March.
Allnatt was elected borough council leader in May 2023 but announced on 2 April he would be stepping down from the role due to ill health. He declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
The use of an individual’s circumstances in political campaigning without their consent raises significant ethical concerns.
Where situations involve distress, criminal matters, and potential impact on children, there is a heightened duty to ensure informed consent, and protection from further harm.
The unauthorised use of such narratives risks re-traumatisation and loss of control over personal information.
There is also a broader issue of narrative control and power imbalance, where individuals with public platforms shape or utilise personal experiences without engagement or permission from those directly affected.
Public representatives, including Polly Billington, must ensure that campaigning and advocacy are conducted within clear ethical and legal boundaries, and that the dignity and rights of individuals are not compromised in the process.
This is not just a political issue — it is about ensuring that individuals retain control over their own lived experiences.