Labour’s shortlist for its candidate in Jeremy Corbyn’s seat of Islington North has been announced, with two London councillors still in the running to be selected while journalist Paul Mason has missed out.
The shortlist of two was confirmed as London Assembly member and Hackney councillor Sem Moema and Islington councillor Praful Nargund, as Labour looks to get candidates in place in its unfilled seats following Rishi Sunak’s surprise announcement of a general election on July 4th.
Mason – who has stood for selection as a Labour candidate on a number of occasions in this election cycle – confirmed in a post on X this morning that he had not made the shortlist and thanked those who had backed his campaign.
The former BBC and Channel 4 journalist wrote: “It’s vital that we get out the vote [for] the selected candidate, and keep Islington North red!”
The selection process has attracted criticism from within the party over Corbyn’s exclusion and central party control over the process, with MPs on the left of the party including John McDonnell, Mick Whitley and Beth Winter saying members should be able to choose, with the former party leader on the ballot.
The local Constituency Labour Party’s (CLP) officers also called for “local democracy [to] be respected” and the local party to be allowed to choose its candidate “from amongst any Labour Party member in good standing”.
Corbyn remains a member of the party but has had the party whip suspended since October 2020 following his response to a report into allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party. The party’s governing national executive committee (NEC) last year voted to block him standing as a Labour candidate at the coming election.
Islington North CLP almost unanimously passed a motion in support of Corbyn and its “democratic right” to choose its candidate shortly after the NEC barred him.
Corbyn has not made his intentions explicitly clear about whether he will stand as an independent. But he said last year after members passed the motion backing him: “I have spent the past 40 years campaigning alongside my community for a mass redistribution of wealth, ownership and power. That is what I’ll continue to do.”
He then told The Observer: “40 years ago, I made a promise to my constituents that I would always stand up for democracy and justice on their behalf. In Islington North, we keep our promises.”
ITV News’ political editor Robert Peston said in a post on X today that he ‘understands’ the former Labour leader will confirm today that he will be standing as an independent candidate.
Moema was reelected as the London Assembly member for the North East earlier this month, with her constituency covering the areas of Hackney, Islington and Waltham Forest. She also currently serves as a councillor on Hackney council, representing Hackney Downs ward.
Nargund has been a councillor in Islington since 2022, representing Barnsbury ward. He is the founder and director of Create Impact Ventures, an early-stage investor.
The Labour candidate is expected to be in place by June 1st. The head of one Labour affiliate told LabourList before the shortlisted names were confirmed: “The party has a real duty of care to candidates it puts on that shortlist.
“The campaign will be utterly toxic and there will be a real half life to that, following the general election even if we win, with a big effort to rebuild the local party. I wouldn’t want to see a friend go through that campaign.”
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