Christmas crowd waits in freezing cold for MP Glenda Jackson to turn on lights

MP Glenda Jackson came under fire today after failing to switch on the Christmas lights in her constituency.

The double Oscar-winning actress, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, had agreed to flick the switch.

But organisers, families and traders waited more than an hour. Eventually Brent mayor Harbhajan Singh stepped in. Zulfi Amade, of Kilburn Business Friends, which organised the lights, said: "She didn't even phone and we waited and waited — we were freezing.

"If she had bothered to ring then we could have got on with it quicker or organised someone else."

Lib-Dem councillor Linda Chung, who organises the lights in neighbouring Hampstead, said: "I know what hard work it is for all the volunteers involved and I'm really disappointed on their behalf."

Miss Jackson, 74, said she had not given a cast iron guarantee, adding: "I did warn them I would get there if my surgery didn't over-run, which it did."