Hot on the heals of the Conservative Party’s trouble over the imposition of Tony Lit as their candidate in Ealing Southall, we have fun and games in the Labour Party too.
Ealing Southall was originally going to have an All Women Shortlist for Labour, something strongly backed by Piara Khabra before his death who had wanted to be followed by a female Labour MP when he retired.
But that was scrapped when he died and the by-election was called. Amongst those campaigning for the Labour selection was Sonika Nirwal, who was clearly taking the selection seriously given how glossy her selection leaflet was. It included an endorsement from neighbouring MP Stephen Pound
She’s been blocked at the last moment from standing by the Labour NEC’s decision to only let two men through to the final member vote.
And to add to the fun:
There is speculation that another veteran Ealing councillor, Gurcharan Singh, may run as an independent after he failed to make the Southall shortlist.
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2 Comments
‘Tony come lately’?
‘Tory Lit(e) weight’?
“It included an endorsement from neighbouring MP Stephen Pound.”
The curse of Pound!
If Steve is true to form, he will endorse every candidate with a chance of getting the selection without any of the others knowing.
Steve knows all about all-women shortlists, of course. In the early 1980s, he was deselected in the Elthorne ward to make way for Valery Vaz because the leadership had reserved the seat for a woman. Steve was about to defect to the SDP, but was offered a place in neighbouring Hobbayne just in time.
I don’t think Gurcharan Singh has much support. Under the Cudmore administration he was the only Asian councillor to be given a head committee chairmanship, and was basically frozen out of the loop by the leadership group.