Ealing Southall MP accused of being ‘absentee’ by local members. Vote appears to have been from both left and right
Ealing Southall MP Virendra Sharma is on track to join Margaret Hodge on the list of ‘triggered’ MPs after the first two local Labour branches to vote whether to have a selection contest voted heavily in favour. The votes are understood to have come from across the Labour spectrum.
Elthorne branch voted 30:3 and Southall Broadway 74:32. A third branch tomorrow is thought likely to vote to trigger – and as Ealing Southall CLP (constituency Labour party) has seven branches, this would be enough to force a contest.
Sharma lost a CLP-wide no-confidence vote earlier this year. Among the complaints of members were that he had not attended a CLP meeting for twenty-one months and that his response to case work is ‘slow and inadequate’. Speakers at the no-confidence vote also complained about an email Sharma sent to the whole CLP suggesting new members were racist.
In 2017, Ealing Southall residents staged a protest asking the Labour Party to provide a different candidate for the general election. Their reasons for the request included that Sharma “has made statements – on the parliamentary record – that are hugely inflammatory towards our Muslim community and has sent abusive and extremely personal messages – worse than anything Simon Danczuk did – to at least one of our highly-respected Sikh residents that he then sent out verbatim to around a hundred other people to embarrass him. “
Mr Sharma told the SKWAWKBOX that he was ‘disappointed’ with the ‘democratic’ results but wanted to see how the final result turned out. However, he did also make a remark about identifying ‘who was behind [the trigger move]’ once the trigger issue is decided.
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Unfortunately, to the consternation of many members, PPC selections have been sidelined, Is this so that the NEC can exert its control over selections?
Has anything really changed from the Blair ‘we know what’s good for you’ years?
“Anger towards NEC rises as local parties demand selections resume
Local Labour parties are increasingly demanding that their parliamentary selections are allowed to continue, after the decision was taken on a national level to suspend the process.
https://labourlist.org/2019/09/anger-towards-nec-rises-as-local-parties-demand-selections-resume/
We should have got the measure of our NEC,and what we need to do to.democratize them,…not fit for purpose!
Among the complaints of members were that he had not attended a CLP meeting for twenty-one months and that his response to case work is ‘slow and inadequate’.
Which, on the face of it, makes him pretty f’ing useless.
Although not THE most useless MP called sharma in the commons. In fact, not THE most useless MP, full stop.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X30vGLVBQ1s&w=853&h=480%5D
The three latest examples of opting for a full selection emphasize the necessity of building consensus across the Labour spectrum, and focusing on particulars, rather than the naive assumption that the selection process provides a cure-all for every political conflict.
Below is a list of Labour MPs who (to date) will not be facing a full reselection process. Is this process working out as many members expected.
Diane Abbott, Hackney N & Stoke Newington
Mike Amesbury, Weaver Vale
Jon Ashworth, Leicester South
Paul Blomfield, Sheffield Central
Richard Burgon, Leeds East
Dawn Butler, Brent Central
Alan Campbell, Tynemouth
Dan Carden, Liverpool, Walton
Bambos Charalambous, Enfield, Southgate
Jeremy Corbyn, Islington North
Neil Coyle, Bermondsey and Old Southwark
Stella Creasy, Walthamstow
Vicky Foxcroft, Lewisham, Deptford
Andrew Gwynne, Denton and Reddish
Sarah Jones, Croydon Central
Barbara Keeley, Worsley and Eccles South
Ian Lavery, Wansbeck
Sandy Martin, Ipswich
Alison McGovern, Wirral South
Jim McMahon, Oldham West and Royton
Matthew Pennycook, Greenwich and Woolwich
Lucy Powell, Manchester Central
Angela Rayner, Ashton-under-Lyne
Ellie Reeves, Lewisham W & Penge
Tulip Siddiq, Hampstead and Kilburn
Ruth Smeeth, Stoke-on-Trent North
Gareth Snell, Stoke-on-Trent Central
Keir Starmer, Holborn and St Pancras
Emily Thornberry, Islington South and Finsbury
Karl Turner, Kingston upon Hull East
Tom Watson, West Bromwich East
Matt Western, Warwick and Leamington
There are a few deeply troubling names on that list!
Tony 01/10/2019 at 3:03 pm
I agree.
Unfortunately the powers that be have decided that the membership can’t be trusted with Mandatory Reselection.
When you consider that all the other major parties, apart from the Tories, already do this as a matter of course it does make one wonder why we can’t be trusted.
It could also all be explained by the reluctance of some to relinquish power to the membership of our members led party.
Is this process working out as many members
expectedhoped?Steve H….its a bloody mess and and a shambles,exactly as we all expected and the membership once again being shafted.!
There are some names that truly disappoint. Others that have created totally futile bees in bonnets.
But, given that reselection is something that should be routine, the process has been open to all members – unlike Brexit policy. The problem is that the actual Labour Party isn’t the same as the imagined body in some minds.
Joseph says : ” the membership once again being shafted.”
No – where there has been a trigger ballot, they were given a choice. Not getting your dreams isn’t ‘being shafted’.
…and meanwhile there appears to have been a punch-up involving an MP at the Party of Law and Order’s Conference
https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/01/lockdown-tory-party-conference-punch-10841302/
It’s all going the way I thought it would. Democracy for the members ? Nah, they cannot be trusted. Yet, can we have your money dear members ? We need Open Selection, and we need it now. If the Unions would let us. The day we members get true democracy is the day I send them more money other than my subs.