Bolton South Labour: Making History by ... Picking a Dyed in the Wool Socialist

Yes, that's right! It's happened right here in Greater Manchester. "Constituency Labour Party Selects Socialist!" Brilliant. A candidate that stood in Bolshy Brent 2005, refusing to toe the party line on the war, highlighting the most socialist achievements of the government as a platform.

Famously pulling in both Tony Benn and Ken Livingstone rather than current ministers as their key supporters on the stump. In fact this person is even Mayor Ken's Human Rights Advisor.


Meanwhile others are rightly celebrating other aspects of the selection - Yasmin Qureshi could be Britain's first woman MP with Pakistani heritage. She will depend on a speedy weigh in versus a more tortuous count in Bethnal Green & Bow to pip Bangladeshi heritage Rushanara Ali to also be first Muslim woman and first Asian woman elected.

The official precis CV goes: Qureshi is a Barrister at 2 King’s Bench Walk chambers and human rights advisor to London Mayor, Ken Livingstone. She has worked for Government Legal Services and Crown Prosecution Service and was the Head of the Criminal Legal Section of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) for some time. She contested Brent East in 2005.

Slate were more effusive. Cheeky Muslim Woman Attorney Who's Britain's Most Appealing Candidate was just their May 2005 headline:

This time, Labor has more than leveled the playing field. Qureshi is a formidable candidate. She's a Muslim of Pakistani descent in a constituency that's 28 percent Asian and 13 percent Muslim; she's a barrister; she's a human-rights adviser to London Mayor "Red" Ken Livingstone, who represented Brent East from 1987 to 2001. On paper, she's astonishing enough. But in person she's astounding. Charismatic, chatty, cheeky, she's a natural extrovert. She described herself as "a gobby candidate" — that's "outspoken" in American — which is one way of saying that she disagrees with a good chunk of current Labor Party policy.

Over the last four weeks, she's run an anti-war campaign that stresses the government's economic strengths. She has distanced herself from Blair and invited in "old Labor" stalwarts like Livingstone ("former Labor" (sic) in his case) and Tony Benn to campaign for her.

Bolton has a Socialist Club. Not just some comrades meeting in a smoky pub mind. This is a bricks and mortar, albeit a little tired, at Wood Street (bricollaged above with YQ) and if you click the link you'll find some real red antecedents.

Wood Street may be needed to make up for the loss of one of=r two Labour Clubs in the Town as The Bolton Evening News reports. Not local. Never heard of her. Blah de blah.

Bolton West MP Ruth Kelly: "She's hard-working and committed to improving the lives of all those living in Bolton South East."

David Crausby, MP for Bolton North: "selection of a Muslim woman is a real step forward."

Bolton Interfaith Council secretary Tony McNeile: "The selection of an Asian woman is a reflection of modern society in Bolton."

Bolton Council leader Cliff Morris added: "It will be nice to have a young Asian woman representing Bolton so we have a nice mix of MPs."

Yes, "nice". LOL add: "The selection of a socialist is the real news today."

Nargis Khan fans will be pleased to hear that she did well and it was her transfers that finally settled matters. LOL have not yet seen the detailed numbers although the final margin was just 17. Thinking aloud this may mean that Nargis - who is a Bolton lass with her family home in the town - may have seen transfers splitting quite evenly between the two "finalists".