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Ealing Southall By-Election: Selection News
Unity has a scoop on the current favourite to win the Labour selection as PPC for Ealing Southall. Gurinder Singh Josan (right) who is a Councillor in Sandwell. There has been a discussion going on for sometime about shortlisting for both by-elections over at Antonia's. One Gurdeep Singh of the Sikh Federation UK has been prominent in that and their site also announces productive links with Brown's new government.
Perhaps we'll get an All Woman Shortlist in Sedgefield?
Unity also provides the SP on the extraordinarily opportunistical Tory candidate for the seat. Dale prints his picture with Dave-id.
29 comments:
uhm, a candidate from outside Ealing....LDs will be very pleased, expect a "local" campaign by the Yellow Peril. LDs are already attacking the Tory candidate for living in Richmond Park, God only knows what will tell about a candidate from Sandwell
"candidate for living in Richmond Park"
ops, he lives in Hounslow, not Richmond
Andrea:
If you understood the dynamics of the Sikh community in Southall, you'd appreciate that Sandwell is considerably more 'local' than Hounslow.
A connection with Tom Watson, as he was running the Southall Campaign, me thinks
Unity has a good point about Sandwell and Southall. However it should be borne in mind that around 76% of the electorate ARE NOT Sikh. in fact the Sikh community is less than half the asian sub continent legacy proportion of the demographic. However the asian community is I think rather more cohesive across faith lines than in some other areas.
USELESS TRIVIA: one of my neighbours in High Wycombe when I were a lad was a Mr Singh Chahal. The famous helmetless scooter rider of the mid 20th century.
First taste of indian sweets, and also a door of perception opened when I went to a party there as a ? 8 year old ? and opined that Singh was an unusual name when introducing myself to one of the clan!
"If you understood the dynamics of the Sikh community in Southall, you'd appreciate that Sandwell is considerably more 'local' than Hounslow. "
I'm probably too pessimistic...but I always fear when LDs and byelections are mentioned in the same line....they would be able to successfully pass as an outsider a candidate who has never left the area of the election in all his life!
And then there are also the 4 "whiter" wards (Ealing Common, Elthorne, Northfield, Walpole)...will a candidate from Sandwell go down well there?
On the whiter wards ... if they are Labour voting they will vote for Gurvinder, should he be selected as his status is favourite not done deal, if they are not they will vote for the Tory or Lib Dem or BNP or Green or whatever else people that stand.
"On the whiter wards ... if they are Labour voting they will vote for Gurvinder"
They've mainly voted Tory in the last local elections, but I think Labour should have carried some of them in a GE (at least Elthorne ward)
Have the Lib Dems outed their candidate? I probably know that but I'm having a senior moment.
Chris, I read somewhere that the LDs should select on Sunday (tomorrow)
Tory candidate is actually from Chiswick, about 10 mins walk and 2 mins drive from Ealing edge of constituency.
Runs Sunrise radio which is basically Southall through and through and seems to know everyone there.
Walked down the broadway today (Sat) and the place is covered in Tony Lit posters with pic of him. Based on the support the older Lit had when he stood as an independent (nearly 6,000 votes), this could actually be an interesting and very unpredictable poll.
If Tories hold their local election Ealing vote and pick up anything like 6,000 in Southall (all adjusted for lower by-election turnout), then we could in theory be in for an upset.
My money is still on a Labour victory, but the Tories have outmanoeuvred both the other parties with a smart choice of candidate and a quick start to their campaign.
So, Cruddas supporting cllr from Sandwell. Wouldn't have anything to do with Tom Watson running the show in Ealing?!
I hope there isn't an AWS in Sedgefield cos I'd love to see Pat McCourt get selected.
The Tory man has resigned from the radio station has he not?
Unity has him in Osterley in Hounslow.
He has not been a member of the Tories for five minutes and his family are not Tory supporters. In fact his father backed :abour in the 04 GLA elections.
PS When I say Unity has him in Osterley I have to say that Unity was doing a direct quote from a comment at Tory Home. Understandably they are incensed over there.
Why isn't there an all women-shortlist in Ealing Southall?
The arrangements for All Women Shortlists do not apply to by-elections, though the NEC could call one it is unlikely.
If you follow the link in the blogpost to Antonia Bunce's blog you will find a note of the last two by-elections where a woman was selected by the Labour Party. 1994 and 2006.
The 2006 case was where Wil-lie Rennie won unexpectedly and shifted from being a shifty apologist for cluster bomb makers .... to visiting their factory and saying how great they are, but then hypocritically campaigning against them.
Although this man is the favourite at the moment I believe that Labour select after the LDs and that being so their selection will get factored in.
Reference to Ealing Southall in The Sunday Times
July 1, 2007
What do you think of what Geiffrey Robinson had to say?
I saw a nasty case of KKK Tourette’s at first hand last week when I was in a Five Live discussion with Gordon Brown’s friend and mentor, Geoffrey Robinson MP. He had been talking, perfectly reasonably, about Labour’s forthcoming by-elections. And then he had a sort of seizure. “We’ll be fine,” he said, “so long as we don’t choose a white candidate in Ealing Southall and a black in Sedgefield.”
Suddenly realising what had issued from his mouth, he looked embarrassed, as if he had just passed wind in front of the Queen. “Well, ah, um, let me be clear,” he bumbled in desperation, “we’ll be fine with a candidate of any colour, creed, race or gender…”
Hope it’s not too late, Geoff. Next time you hear a politician suddenly announce he doesn’t like darkies, or he bets Rosa Parks never bought a ticket for that bus, you’ll know what it is: KKK Tourette’s.
Gurjeet Singh
info@sikhfederation.com
Geoffrey Robinson's comments are a trifle cynical but no more than a reflection of a harsh political reality which speaks more of the attitudes one finds in the communities in question than of his own personal views on race and ethnicity.
The other question that could legitimately be asked here, given that members of the Sikh Federation have been openly arguing against an AWS in Ealing Southall is quite why they find consider it necessary that the Sikh community in that area be represented by a man.
Are there no Sikh women who would make suitable candidates?
"Are there no Sikh women who would make suitable candidates? "
Sonika Nirwal, leader of Labour group in Ealing Council
>>> Sonika Nirwal
Who, quite obviously, doesn't have the backing of the Sikh Federation, or they wouldn't have been complaining about the possibility of the selection being handled under AWS.
First important point
Most if not all MPs that have come from all-women short-lists for the last ten years, since the 1997 election have been white.
Second important point
We have argued that preference should not be given to an all-women short-list in constituencies like Ealing Southall. We prefer an open short-list that is more likely to result in an ethnic minority being selected.
Third important point
Incidentally these are all from the Sikh Federation (UK)
We think Sonika Nirwal, Jasbir Anand, Gurcharan Singh etc. should all be on the short list so local members of the Labour Party can make a choice.
Our preference is for a visible Sikh as we have none in the Commons or Lords. This is why Gurinder Singh, Dr Harkirtan Singh etc. who are all believed to be in the running are also options.
'Visibility' for a Sikh is critically important - practising and non-practising Sikhs know the significance of this.
Walked down the broadway today (Sat) and the place is covered in Tony Lit posters with pic of him.
For God sake do not lie. You must have seen posters at Tory campaign Headquaters Not a single poster can be seen in Southall Broadway.
Walk down the Southall Broadway and do a survey,99.9% sikhs wil say they will vote for Labour, 98% Muslims will say they are Labour supporters but because of Iraq War and Sulman Rushdie affair they will not vote Labour this time.
Lit wiill be lucky to get 6000 votes, only Tory base support, he will not get votes from Asians.
Heard that Tony Lit first approach the Liberal Democrats who turned him down!
The Tories are getting desparate.
Hi Chris, Had a google to check out Conservative candidate Tony Lit and found this: http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.press.release.page&obj_id=137330
in which the Tory party website calls leader of Ealing council Jason Spacey when he's actually named Stacey. You get used to your name being got wrong when you're an Asian but for a pasty-faced white bloke... the indignity of it.
Rupa
Northfields Ward, Ealing Southall CLP
Something V Sharma (not registed) has posted elsewhere
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/ealingsouthall#comment-21094
Story of one of the Ealing Southall hopefuls
Model sues politician over assault allegation
A young model has submitted a claim against a Labour councillor who is accused of having her arrested days before her university dissertation was due to be handed in.
Cllr Jasbir Anand (Lab, Southall Green) is accused of defaming insurance broker Natasha Tah after reporting her to police last year.
Cllr Anand, a hopeful to take over as Ealing and Southall MP at the next General Election, told police that Natasha, of Uxbridge Road, Southall, assaulted her in the street in April last year.
Natasha was investigated by police for three months before the case was thrown out by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Speaking exclusively to the Ealing Times - sister paper of Local London - in March, Natasha told how being arrested four days before she was due to hand in her dissertation “totally affected” her university performance.
The claim against Cllr Anand was issued on April 11 and is currently awaiting confirmation of receipt from Cllr Anand’s solicitors.
Natasha’s solicitor David Sheahan said he was confident in the strength of the case.
He said: “How it works is we get a report leaving all the names out - except for our client’s - and the other solicitors get the same but with their client’s name.
“When we put the two reports together we will get the complete picture. In my opinion Anand is going to find it difficult to justify her allegations in light of that report.”
Cllr Anand said she and her solicitors would not be commenting on the case at this time.
5:57am Sunday 3rd June 2007
By David Doyle
Excellent! Lit the Lib Dem! Tories getting Tory name wrong ... thanks to Rupa Huq the local candidate! And mischief from models and role models alike.
Is V. Sharma the councillor who is also chucking his hat in the ring? Or is it just a coincidence? I was sent an Eid card by him this year with handwritten "Hi hope you remember me" in it.
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