by Chris McLaughlin
A SENIOR local party official in the Erith and Thamesmead constituency has been sacked by Labour headquarters amid deepening rancour over the selection of a parliamentary candidate.
Frank Lerner, a pensioner and retired head teacher, was removed from the post of constituency party chair by Labour general secretary Ray Collins in a letter received this week.
It warned Mr Lerner that he may be deemed to have engaged in “activities detrimental to the party” – a charge which can lead to expulsion – after he wrote to local members about the controversy surrounding the selection.
Following claims of postal voting irregularities and suggestions that a Blairite candidate was being “parachuted” into the seat, the final section was called off after a ballot box and postal votes at party HQ were found to have been tampered with.
Friends of Mr Lerner say his letter to members was an attempt to calm feelings which are running high by setting out a factual summary of where the selection procedure had reached. It was, they argue, an effort to prevent members leaving the party over the row.
The constituency’s procedures secretary was removed by national officers at the start of the selection.
A fresh hustings date has been set for May 16, but a rash of complaints have been made over the apparent intention of the national party officers to send out postal vote applications to all those who submitted one last time.
At least one candidate on the shortlist of eight has lodged an official complaint that this is against the party rules which stipulate that postal applications can only be made on the basis of a legitimate reason for not being present at the hustings.
Some members are pressing for copies of the rule which states that postal ballots can only be used in exceptional circumstances to be issued with any application forms. Following concerns expressed publicly and a private complaint to head office by sitting MP John Austin, the neighbouring MP for Eltham, Clive Efford, has also intervened to express concerns over the selection procedure. Part of his constituency overlaps in what will be boundary changes at the next election.
Mr Collins and national officials met this week for talks on the investigation into the tampering of the ballot box.
A list of visitors to the building on the day of the incident is to be examined and all staff present on the day are to be interviewed. Responsibility for the inquiry has been handed the chair and vice-chair of the National Executive Committee, Cath Speight and Ann Black.
