• BEFORE a Labour Party member can become a council candidate they have to be considered by a management panel of local party members.

Historically the only grounds for excluding someone would be technical. They may not have been a party member long enough, there might be an obvious conflict of interest, and so on.

Wards and branches have been allowed to consider potential candidates from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. It’s why you have a cross-section of Labour opinions represented within the Labour group.

What’s happening with the current round of selections is that even moderate potential candidates are being blocked from standing.

They are being stopped by a right-wing cabal who control the panel and who are intent on imposing their political line across the borough; a line that owes everything to the politics of Lord Mandelson and the removal of even a suggestion of socialism.

It’s become increasingly apparent that the panel is abusing its position and operating in a way that is narrow, reactionary, and profoundly undemocratic.

Both existing councillors and potential candidates are being systematically removed or vetoed if they fail the test of orthodoxy. Even political moderates are being excluded.

The reality for Camden is not only a loss of experience and enthusiasm but a retreat from political choice and diversity – a retreat that shames the party.

STEVEN TAYLOR
Hampstead & Kilburn CLP