Party chiefs to take charge of remaining selections

Labour chiefs are to take control of the selection of candidates for the general election in a bid to increase the proportion of women MPs.

by Tribune Web Editor
Thursday, November 19th, 2009

by Chris McLaughlin

Labour chiefs are to take control of the selection of candidates for the general election in a bid to increase the proportion of women MPs.

The party’s ruling National Executive Committee has agreed to set up a “special selections panel” to oversee the choice of candidate in the remaining several dozen Westminster seats yet to select.

The move follows controversy within the party over the criteria by which all-women selection panels were being imposed on local parties. Some constituencies have complained that the imposition of AWS lists prohibited popular, local male candidates from standing.

The panel, which meets for the first time on Monday next week (November 23), has been given the task of clearing the backlog of selections as the party gears up for the general election.

During what was described by one NEC member as a “lively debate”, the terms of reference for the panel were amended to include a provision that local parties should be fully involved in the shortlisting of candidates – a move aimed at preventing the parachuting in of the party hierarchy’s favourites.

Party officials drew attention to the fact that no candidate has been formally imposed on a constituency party since 1997 when a late selection made it unavoidable, though many members have complained of evidence of unofficial manipulation by the party’s regional organisational machine.

They also warned that at the current rate of selection the party was going to fall far short of its target of 40 per cent of women MPs in the Parliamentary Labour Party, notwithstanding the result of the election.

The effect of the decision is likely to be that safer seats will be designated as all-women shortlists while more marginal seats, where the profile of a local candidate is thought to make more of a difference, will be allowed an open selection.

The NEC, which met on November 17, also received a “warts and all” report on the state of the party’s finances from general secretary Ray Collins.

He told the committee that both small and large donations were running below expectations and that membership had “levelled out”, but that the party is receiving sufficient funds to hold staffing at current levels.

That does not mean it has anything close to what will be needed to fight the next general election. Mr Collins confirmed, following notice from the Co-op Bank that no further credit will be extended, that the party would not be seeking to borrow any further funds to finance the campaign.

Instead it is to embark on a major fundraising campaign targeted at individual members and supporters. In practice, unless the unions club together once again to fill the breach,

the party will have neither the resources nor the staff to match the Tories in the election campaign.

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  • Robert

    Well it’s t late in my area we ended up with a Blair babe, and the party was torn apart over it.

    I really do not care much anymore, but i bet we will still have the parachuting in of people like Campbell, Gould, and a few others New labour believe will keep them alive.

  • Robert

    Well it’s t late in my area we ended up with a Blair babe, and the party was torn apart over it.

    I really do not care much anymore, but i bet we will still have the parachuting in of people like Campbell, Gould, and a few others New labour believe will keep them alive.

  • Ralph Baldwin

    I bet they are haha, trying to fix seats they will lose.

    Lets not let local members and democracy get in the way.

    I just lost at a Hustings and I accept my defeat and happily stand back for the local candidate selected in what was mostly a fair contest.

    I was proud to take part and the Constituency and I hope the members wisely select a local candidate and stick up two fingers to the morons dictating their madeness to the rest of the Party.

  • Ralph Baldwin

    I bet they are haha, trying to fix seats they will lose.

    Lets not let local members and democracy get in the way.

    I just lost at a Hustings and I accept my defeat and happily stand back for the local candidate selected in what was mostly a fair contest.

    I was proud to take part and the Constituency and I hope the members wisely select a local candidate and stick up two fingers to the morons dictating their madeness to the rest of the Party.

  • Pingback: Labourhome » Blog Archive » Selecting Labour PPCs: time to reach out

  • http://http://operationblackvote.wordpress.com Lester Holloway

    Good article, but while you mention AWS’s, why no mention of Black under-representation?

  • http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/ Peter Kenyon

    Dear Tribune,

    It is no secret that I think the Party needs to reaching out and rethinking the role of money in its campaigning. I blogged about that here. <a href=http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/2009/11/labour-general-election-strategy-rethinking-the-role-of-money-.html

    We also need to be reaching regarding PPC selections to widen Labour’s appeal. This requires a bit of lateral thinking on the party of the Special Selections Panel.

  • http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/ Peter Kenyon

    Dear Tribune,

    It is no secret that I think the Party needs to reaching out and rethinking the role of money in its campaigning. I blogged about that here. <a href=http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/2009/11/labour-general-election-strategy-rethinking-the-role-of-money-.html

    We also need to be reaching regarding PPC selections to widen Labour’s appeal. This requires a bit of lateral thinking on the party of the Special Selections Panel.

  • http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/ Peter Kenyon

    Dear Lester Holloway

    why no mention of Black under-representation?

    That is an issue under consideration that…goes without saying.

    Seriously, I don’t think Keith Vaz MP who sits on the Special Selection Panel will even need to remind colleagues about that when it comes to clarifying the criteria.

  • http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/ Peter Kenyon

    Dear Lester Holloway

    why no mention of Black under-representation?

    That is an issue under consideration that…goes without saying.

    Seriously, I don’t think Keith Vaz MP who sits on the Special Selection Panel will even need to remind colleagues about that when it comes to clarifying the criteria.

  • Sid

    We will have the best party for having mixture of people, I wonder how many of them will stay the course and become ministers or will the next leaders look out side of MP’s to get ministers.

    because the people who are MP’s were picked because of the gender or colour and not how bloody good they are.

  • Sid

    We will have the best party for having mixture of people, I wonder how many of them will stay the course and become ministers or will the next leaders look out side of MP’s to get ministers.

    because the people who are MP’s were picked because of the gender or colour and not how bloody good they are.

  • scotinexile

    Oh, so not “marginal seats, which we are incredibly unlikely, according to current opinion polls, to win”?

    So, winnable=woman or BAME, as per Peter Kenyon’s post on labourhome above.

  • scotinexile

    Oh, so not “marginal seats, which we are incredibly unlikely, according to current opinion polls, to win”?

    So, winnable=woman or BAME, as per Peter Kenyon’s post on labourhome above.

  • http://www.paulbell.org Paul Bell

    If the Party does not behave more fairly towards everyone, then active and hard working men like me may not even bother to be a part of it. The problem we have already, is that we get people selected who have no views, no passion but only a desire to be a career politician. If the desire is to have more women in Parliament, then people who have served 8 or more years should stand down.

    If only women or BAME candidates can stand in winnable seats, why would people like have any reason to stay in the Labour Party?

  • http://www.paulbell.org Paul Bell

    If the Party does not behave more fairly towards everyone, then active and hard working men like me may not even bother to be a part of it. The problem we have already, is that we get people selected who have no views, no passion but only a desire to be a career politician. If the desire is to have more women in Parliament, then people who have served 8 or more years should stand down.

    If only women or BAME candidates can stand in winnable seats, why would people like have any reason to stay in the Labour Party?

  • scotinexile

    To explain my slightly truncated post above, what made me laugh was: more marginal seats, where the profile of a local candidate is thought to make more of a difference, will be allowed an open selection.

    What rubbish, the candidate profile making more of a difference! This is dressing up the following: marginal seats (no chance of winning) male, safe seats female. This should ensure that we get not a single new male MP from the seats to come.

    Briliant, and totally democratic, eh?

  • scotinexile

    To explain my slightly truncated post above, what made me laugh was: more marginal seats, where the profile of a local candidate is thought to make more of a difference, will be allowed an open selection.

    What rubbish, the candidate profile making more of a difference! This is dressing up the following: marginal seats (no chance of winning) male, safe seats female. This should ensure that we get not a single new male MP from the seats to come.

    Briliant, and totally democratic, eh?