A politician who ran for parliament while battling cancer has revealed how the disease has returned just seven months after she was given the all-clear.

Liberal Democrat Sarah Smith lost the Dover and Deal seat in May to Conservative MP
Charlie Elphicke.

But the mother-of-two, who was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 2014, was fighting two battles – one was to get better, and the other was for enforcement of the policies she believes in.

After being given the all-clear in March, Mrs Smith was able to go out on the campaign trail, after being computer-bound for some of the crucial months in the run-up to the election.

She told the Mercury: “The reasons I was standing for parliament didn’t go away when I got a life-threatening diagnosis.

'The reasons I was standing for parliament didn’t go away when I got a life-threatening diagnosis.' - Sarah Smith

“If anything, it made them more important. Dover was not a winnable seat for a Liberal Democrat in 2015, but I wanted to show that an ordinary person like me can stand up and make a difference. It seemed this might be my last chance to do that, and I didn’t want to give up.”

She fought for jobs, schools and roads, and also made it clear that she thinks Dover should get a cut of the foreign HGV levy, because of the number of trucks that pass through the town.

She also shared her opinions on a better design for the St James development, and was successful in making Walmer Science College a listed asset of community value.

Despite her defeat, Mrs Smith has not backed down from making her ideas known, and said she will continue this while undergoing a second round of chemotherapy. She said: “Although we probably can’t eradicate the cancer this time, my doctors are confident that we can control its progress.

“Now, like 2.5 million people in this country, I will be living with cancer. I believe this experience will make me a better, more compassionate politician.

“My determination to keep campaigning for policies and investment to make Dover and Deal stronger, healthier and happier is undiminished.”

Mrs Smith is now back to work, researching behavioural economics.

She said: “I will be campaigning hard for the UK to remain a member of the European Union.

“On the inside we can secure our country’s interests much more effectively than we could on the outside. Britain’s great strength lies in trade and being inside the world’s biggest single market creates an incalculable opportunity for us.”