Heathrow activist fighting Zac Goldsmith in Richmond by-election is married to man who helped build new terminal
Lib Dem Sarah Olney has played down hubby's involvement in development of controversial Terminal 5
THE husband of the Lib Dem’s anti-airport expansion candidate in the Richmond by-election helped build a new terminal at Heathrow, The Sun can reveal.
Wannabe MP Sarah Olney has featured her “town planner” hubby Ben on various leaflets in her closely fought battle with ex-Tory MP Zac Goldsmith in the South West London suburb.
But she failed to mention that his CV boasts “of significant experience implementing large scale infrastructure projects” including “working on the delivery of Terminal 5 at Heathrow.”
The by-election was triggered when Mr Goldsmith resigned from the government benches to protest against Theresa May giving the green light to a new runway at the London airport.
Our revelation will come as a major blow to the Lib Dems, who are desperate to take back the seat they lost in 2010 at in next month’s showdown.
Mrs Olney has claimed that “only a vote for the Liberal Democrats will make a stand against Heathrow” and – despite her husband’s involvement – painted herself as a long term opponent of expanding the airport hated by local voters.
Pictures of her husband Ben have been featured on Lib Dem campaign material as Mrs Olney attempted to claim she is a local champion.
But Mr Olney has worked for over a decade on big building projects including the massive new Terminal 5 at Britain’s biggest airport that opened in March 2008.
James Berry, the Tory MP for the neighbouring constituency of Kingston, hit out last night saying: “Sarah Olney’s position on Heathrow is fast appearing about as authentic as her position on Brexit.
“Apparently she is a lifelong opponent of Heathrow expansion – although presumably not at Terminal 5 which her husband helped deliver.”
A spokesman for Sarah Olney said: “Ben has always been completely open that some years ago he worked on Terminal 5, long after planning permission had been granted.
“But he thinks Heathrow expansion has gone far enough, so when he was approached and asked to work on the proposal to build a third runway, he turned it down on a point of principle.”
They went on: “Liberal Democrats are united in opposition to a third runway and blocked it in the last parliament.
“Zac Goldsmith has been totally ineffective in persuading his Conservative colleagues to block a third runway, which is why we now face this by-election.”
Voters in Richmond Park go to the polls on 1 December.