Further candidates deselected from Labour causes controversy
Faiza Shaheen announced last night that she will not be standing as a Labour candidate in Chingford and Woodford Green following ‘questions’ over past social media posts.
In an emotional interview, Shaheen told BBC Newsnight on Wednesday that she had been deselected by Labour ahead of the general election. According to Shaheen, she had found out earlier that evening, firstly via the press, while she was out campaigning.
Shaheen has been Labour PPC for the east London constituency since 2018 and had already started drumming up support in the area for her general election campaign, taking on Iain Duncan Smith from the Conservative Party for a second time.
The decision was based on 14 tweets that raised concerns over her suitability as a candidate. Shaheen said one was about her experiences of Islamophobia within the party, and another about liking a sketch by a Jewish comedian that referred to critics of Israel coming under attack. She said she had since apologised at a disciplinary hearing about a tweet that “plays into a trope” about Jewish people.
Speaking to Newsnight, Shaheen said she was in a state of shock at “being treated this badly after being such an active member of the party.”
Commenting on one of the social media posts in question, Shaheen said: “Am I not allowed to talk about my experiences of Islamophobia and the double-standards I’ve see?”
Labour campaign group Momentum slammed it as “vindictive and cruel treatment of another woman of colour candidate.”
It follows speculation around Diane Abbott’s political fate in the Labour party and comes after the deselection of Llloyd Russell-Moyle yesterday over a complaint, which the former Brighton Kemptown Labour candidate described as “a vexatious and politically motivated complaint about my behaviour eight years ago”.
Now Labour’s national executive committee will appoint new candidates, with just weeks to go until the general election.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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