Praful Nargund

LABOUR has today (Friday) named an Islington councillor as the candidate sent in to try and unseat Jeremy Corbyn.

Praful Nargund – who repeatedly ignored calls and text messages from the Islington Tribune  inviting him to explain his ambitions for the Islington North constituency – was announced just hours after Mr Corbyn had confirmed he will stand at the July 4 general election.

After blocking Mr Corbyn from defending his seat in the House of Commons as a Labour candidate, the party ran a fast track process to get Mr Nargund installed for the six weeks of campaigning ahead.

It has been 14 months since Labour made clear that it would be preventing Mr Corbyn from being the candidate through a NEC [National Executive Committee] – but, while candidates were selected for constituencies all around the country, there was no attempt to bring in anybody else until now when the timetable was as tight as possible. Local organisers have complained they have been cut out of the normal roles in preparing a shortlist and today many simply learned of the result from a national Labour Party tweet.

It has been the worst secret in Islington that Mr Nargund – who runs a private IVF firm – wanted to be selected but he blanked all attempts by the Tribune to talk to him in recent weeks and months about his interest in the role.

In a statement emailed to press today (Friday), he said: “It’s an honour to have been chosen as Labour’s candidate for Islington North and I look forward to the campaign ahead. I promise to be a truly local MP, that represents all families and businesses that call this special place their home. Only Labour can change the country and fix 14 years of Tory failure.

“A vote for Labour is a vote for getting Britain building again to drive growth, to switch on GB Energy to lower bills, take back our streets with 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs, make our NHS fit for the future, to break down barriers to opportunity for every child with mental health support and free breakfast clubs, and a long-term plan to rebuild Britain.”

Mr Corbyn, who has been expelled from Labour by declaring that he will effectively stand against the party in Islington North, told constituents that members had been treated unfairly and that he would be standing on the same issues and principles that he always had.

Sem Moema, the London Assembly member, was the only other potential candidate shortlist with former Newsnight journalist Paul Mason, transport writer Christian Wolmar and Margaret Greer, the deputy mayor of Enfield, overlooked.