“I DON’T know why people are so afraid of socialism,” Emma Dent Coad says calmly. “It will look after your children and grandchildren. Pay more tax, what’s so frightening about that?”

The left-wing Labour MP is talking about her experience of canvassing in Kensington, the Tory stronghold that she snatched in 2017.

“I stole their crown,” she says proudly, reflecting on her historic election victory. Twenty votes tipped the poll in her favour.

On the campaign trail, she did not shy away from telling some of her more well-heeled constituents what a Corbyn government could mean for them.

“You’ll pay more tax and get more back — a lot of people who are one nation Tories can just about tolerate that,” she says.

Dent Coad’s surprise victory was a sign that socialism could win even in the most unlikely parts of Britain, in constituencies that electoral experts had long written off as right-wing safe seats.

She rode to Parliament on a tide of local disaffection at the previous Tory incumbent, slashing a 7,000-plus majority.

It was proof that the Corbyn strategy was working. By offering real change, Labour was reactivating and recruiting voters who had long since lost interest in a phoney choice between neoliberal candidates.

Dent Coad also managed to win wavering Tories onto her side. “I tell them we’ve got people building roads out here, the government gives massive contracts to companies like Carillion to do it.

“These companies have headquarters in countries where they don’t pay tax and when the business collapses our government bails it out. Meanwhile someone is paid a multi-million bonus.

“It’s your money that’s going elsewhere and it’s grossly unfair — then I tell them we are all socialist now and we all laugh.”

Since the Grenfell Tower disaster, Dent Coad has found that Tory disaffection has grown.

“A lot of Conservatives I meet are appalled at what’s happened to 72 of my neighbours down the road,” referring to the Grenfell Tower residents who perished in the blaze. “Some of them are almost as angry as me.”

Unlike the Change UK brigade, Dent Coad is adamant that Corbyn is an electoral asset rather than a liability.

“When Jeremy became leader, the membership in Kensington went up five times,” she said. “We had 300 members, we couldn’t get a quorum, and it went up to 1,500.”

“A lot of young people joined, a lot of people who didn’t think Labour was relevant. It completely transformed the Labour Party in Kensington and they helped me get elected.

“We now have a huge group of active people and struggle to find rooms big enough for meetings.

“Whatever other papers say, even the Guardian, there’s a huge and growing movement across the country. Whenever the papers say terrible things about our leader his ratings go up again.

“The Guardian aren’t being honest to us — they have so many very vitriolic columnists. While there are some very good journalists on the Guardian the political bent of it has gone to the right.

“It’s only the Morning Star that’s honest about it, and then all the alternative press we have.”

Emma Dent Coad and the Socialist Campaign Group 

Around nine months ago, weary from Corbyn smears, Dent Coad confided in a colleague: “We really should have a group of socialist MPs who should work together and support each other.”

With this remark, she was invited to join the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, the wing of the party that launched Jeremy Corbyn’s successful leadership bid in 2015.

“I didn’t know anything about it but I looked into it and saw it was partly set up by Tony Benn, which was good for me — I campaigned with him about 10 years ago, there’s a picture of us together on the wall behind you.”

Sure enough, Benn is beaming away with Dent Coad, illuminating her small parliamentary office. The next photo shows her out canvassing with Corbyn. 

“It was a relief,” she said, on finding her parliamentary soulmates. “It’s very nice to be in a group of likeminded MPs who are campaigning for the same thing.

“I’ve been a socialist for over 30 years. When I joined the Labour Party I was a person who came in with those values 35 years ago — I’ve maintained the same values throughout.

“That was a very lonely place at times — I’ve been a loyal party member all that time — I went out campaigning for people who I found hard to campaign for but as a loyal party member that’s what you do.”

Her patience paid off with the ascendancy of Corbyn to the leadership. 

“We now have someone who is so genuine that it hurts some people and his charisma isn’t something that comes off the shelf,” she comments on Corbyn’s character.

“It’s warm and genuine, it’s something you can’t buy or impose — I think some people just don’t understand that soft power he has.

“He isn’t an egotist, and some people would rather have an egotist — a David Cameron who can stand on stage and have gorgeous hair and immaculate clothes.

“We’ve got plenty of self-important white men in Parliament and we don’t need more of those. We’d rather have Jeremy.

“I’m sure other Labour MPs have got jobs waiting for them in the city — they can go and have a much more ‘valuable’ future elsewhere.”

Dent Coad lays down a challenge to Corbyn’s critics: “I’m all for deselection, I’m happy to sit down each time for reselection — I do represent my Constituency Labour Party.”

Now the tide has turned, and the Campaign Group is in the ascendancy, Dent Coad says its role is to support Corbyn.

“If people are telling lies about him then we correct them, and stand up for him publicly — and we do the same when it happens to our colleagues as well.”

The Campaign Group includes Labour’s shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, who has faced a relentless media onslaught.

“The media treat Diane abominably. It’s so blatantly racist what they’re doing and that’s disgusting — they should be ashamed of themselves.

“We do need a proper media that actually discusses thing fairly. Investigative journalism has been squeezed out and personal opinion not based on facts seems to have taken over, which is a huge shame.

“The alternative media and online news are hugely important and we need to get them out there more. That’s all we’ve got really.

“I like reading newspapers but this is the only one I trust,” she says holding a copy of the Morning Star.

“There’s only one shop in north Kensington that sells it. Otherwise I end up in a blind fury reading whatever nonsense they come up with.”