Hellooo, is Praful there? It’s total silence from the Labour hopeful eyeing up seat
Putting the short into shortlist, party members are given a choice of just two potential election candidates
Friday, 24th May 2024 — By Isabel Loubser
![Hellooo, is Praful there? It’s total silence from the Labour hopeful eyeing up seat Praful Nargund](/https/www.islingtontribune.co.uk/media/2024/05/Praful-Nargund.jpg)
Praful Nargund has been linked to the Islington North seat for months but won’t talk to the Tribune about what he will do if selected
LABOUR members in Islington North have been given a shortlist of just two potential candidates to stand in the constituency held by Jeremy Corbyn for the past 40 years.
Praful Nargund and Sem Moema’s names seeped out of the Labour’s HQ on Wednesday night before any of the applicants had been informed who had been selected by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
It is unusual – although not unheard of – for the final choice given to a constituency’s members to vote on to only have two names.
But then the process has already been shrouded in controversy after local CLP [Constituency Labour Party] were told that they would not have a role in compiling the final selections.
The secrecy deepened this week when Mr Nargund, an Islington councillor, remained unwilling to talk to the Tribune and tell residents about what he could offer the area as an MP.
Over several weeks, he has repeatedly ignored phone calls and polite text messages from the newspaper about his ambition to sit in the House of Commons representing Islington North.
His name has been shared in the borough’s political circles for a long period of time.
Ms Moema, a London Assembly member representing Islington, however did respond to our questions and said she was running because she thought she could help tackle housing, poverty and anti-social behaviour as her three priority issues.
“I want to bring my experience and track record of delivery on these,” she said.
Of her competitor in the final stage of the process, Ms Moema said: “Praful is a fantastic local councillor. If I’m lucky to be elected as the MP, it would be a privilege to work with him. Too many people want to divide the labour movement. I want to bring us together.”
She added: “Jeremy has served the community for four decades. It is absolutely up to him as to how he proceeds.
“I am focused on making the case for social justice and the labour movement and seeking the selection of local members of Islington North to be their champion for this community.”
Ms Moema was re-elected to the London Assembly for a second term earlier this month.
She has served as a councillor in Hackney.
Sem Moema’s agent said she would not be speaking to the press about her bid to be an MP
With Mr Corbyn revealing his decision today to stand as an independent, it seemed only fair to offer them space in this week’s edition to talk about the general election campaign ahead – but Mr Nargund remained silent.
Both of them now have a short period to convince local members.
The decision by the NEC to limit the choice of potential candidate to just two names meant transport writer Christian Wolmar’s bid to be the candidate fell at the first hurdle.
He was left angry that unsuccessful applicants had learned the verdict on Twitter before being told formally.
He said: “While I recognise that it was the day the election was announced, the fact that candidates had to find out via a leak on Twitter was embarrassing and shameful.”
He added: “I felt I was a highly qualified local candidate who should have been given a chance especially as only two people were shortlisted. I wonder if my age proved to be a barrier?”
There was also disappointment for former Newsnight journalist Paul Mason, who has faced flak on social media for the number of constituencies he has now applied for without winning any candidacy.
He said he was “disappointed” that he had been left off the shortlist, but added that party members must now “unite around the Labour candidate”.
He said: “This election is about the future, not the past. I will be campaigning to keep Islington North Labour.”
Shreya Nanda, whose campaign was similarly cut short after only a few days, echoed Mr Mason’s sentiments.
“I look forward to campaigning for and working with whoever is successful,” she said.
But there is lasting discontent in some quarters of Islington’s membership over how the whole process has been handled as it has been months since the NEC passed a motion blocking Mr Corbyn from being the candidate. Now there is a rush to get somebody in place with the wider general election campaign already begun.
Labour councillor Phil Graham said the fact that the shortlist only featured two names was “just another example of democracy being kicked down the street by Labour and the NEC”.
He said: “The party has behaved disgracefully towards Islington”, adding that he felt that both Mr Nargund and Ms Moema would be “committing political suicide” by running against Mr Corbyn.
Cllr Graham, who represents the Bunhill ward, said: “Labour had a surefire winner in Jeremy in Islington North. I think it will be a disaster for the Labour Party having created this situation, but they’ve painted themselves into a corner.”
He added: “I’m disgusted with Sem. She’s just spent a lot of Labour Party funds and Labour activist boot-leather getting herself elected to the London Assembly, knowing full well she was going for this position. If she is elected there will have to be another election for the London Assembly. That means more activists having to go round to get someone else elected. She should have been upfront.”
Ms Moema had supported Mr Corbyn during the 2016 Labour party leadership election.
An old tweet was dug up this week in which she said: “Shut your faces and vote Jeremy. Nothing else matters.”
Mr Graham went on the criticise Mr Nargund despite the fact they share Labour’s council chamber benches.
“We’ve seen him backstab his local MP, he’s going to be willing to backstab anyone.”
It is not clear at this stage how Labour councillors – many of whom have worked alongside Mr Corbyn for decades – will approach the campaign in Islington over the next few weeks,
The initial selection timetable set the date for a “virtual hustings” for 29 May, with the winner to be announced three days later.
But since prime minister Rishi Sunak’s surprise election date announcement, members are now worried the NEC will speed up the process even further, and limiting debate and discussion over the final choice.
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He accused his Labour rival Sir Keir Starmer of reneging on the pledges he made when he became his party’s leader.
But Mr Starmer – the MP in Holborn and St Pancras – said as the date of the contest was confirmed on Wednesday that the “opportunity for change is what this election is about.”
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