by Chris McLaughlin
The search for a Labour candidate in the safe Labour seat of Wigan descended into chaos and tears after a series of blunders which means the selection has had to be restarted.
Sixty-eight party members turned up for the selection hustings in the town’s Deanery School on Friday January 22. But almost four hours later, with speeches having been heard from all six candidates, the members were told that there would be no vote and were sent home.
The meeting went from farce to worse when former minister Barbara Roche was initially given five rather than 10 minutes for her speech. When the procedural mistake was realised, a proposal that the other five candidates should have their time halved was dismissed, amid consternation from some of the runners.
Ms Roche was eventually given another five minutes to complete her speech, but only after a question-and-answer session.
It was then discovered that the postal votes, numbering around 40, were submitted on papers that had no means of verifying authenticity. “Anybody could have sent them in from anywhere”, said one party member.
It was then proposed to keep the postal votes under lock and key at the regional party office and allow a vote of those present to take place. This was overruled when it was pointed out that in the wake of interference with the Erith and Thamesmead ballot box in the London regional office last year, ballots are no longer allowed to be placed in regional offices.
A frantic search for a solicitor to act as a safekeeper after normal working hours was unsuccessful. Officials decided that the only solution was to re-open the contest on a postal ballot-only basis – a move which supporters of some candidates feel will reduce their chances because of the different nature of the election, the relative inactivity of those not at the scheduled count and their consequent unfamiliarity with their qualities.
Ms Roche, the former MP for Hornsey and Wood Green where she lost a 10,614 majority at the 2005 general election, is seen as one of those potentially disadvantaged because of the polished nature of her speech, in spite of the interrupted delivery. She has been observed busily canvassing the absent postal voters.
At the other end of the spectrum, Lisa Nandy, a councillor from Hammersmith, whose supporters believe did well at the hustings, may suffer from reluctance to support an outsider whose qualities had not been witnessed in hustings.
One member said: “It was incredible. There were tears at the end – everybody just wanted it to be over. But it was a cock-up, not a conspiracy.”
The count will now be on February 3. At the last election, retiring MP Neil Turner had a majority of 11,767.
