Before Monday morning, Folkestone and Hythe’s backbench Labour MP Tony Vaughan was best known for his slick, pro-government Instagram reels.
In one, he dives into the brown sea off the Kent coast, ignoring a no swimming sign, to show constituents that Labour has made progress tackling water pollution; a few minutes later, he emerges in his trunks, as the 007 theme tune plays. In another, he is filmed by a drone striding along the shingle, wearing Ray-Ban aviators and a crisp white shirt, praising the government’s investment in coastal flood defences.
