Paul Mason has put his name forward, saying he was passionate about tackling the scale of poverty in the borough.
Journalist Paul Mason has announced that he is applying to be the Labour Party’s parliamentary candidate in Islington North, after the party announced a timetable to find a candidate for the seat.
The seat is currently held by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was suspended by the party for comments he had made in the aftermath of the EHRC report into antisemitism in Labour.
The human rights watchdog found that the Labour party had broken equalities law including harassment and discrimination over antisemitism in the party.
Corbyn claimed that the scale of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party had been “dramatically overstated” by opponents. A Labour spokesman said at the time that Mr Corbyn was being suspended “for a failure to retract” his words.
Labour insiders said local members would not take part in shortlisting candidates, which would be determined by the party’s ruling national executive committee.
Applications for the seat will close on May 20th, with shortlisting expected to take place on 22nd May, with a postal ballot and online voting taking place over the next weekend, before an online hustings on 29 May. The final result will be announced on 1 June.
Paul Mason has put his name forward, saying he was passionate about tackling the scale of poverty in the borough.
In a post on X he added: “I worked hard for Jeremy Corbyn while leader and I hope to build on the decades of tireless work he’s done for local people. I backed Keir Starmer, and took part in his leadership campaign in 2020, because I knew he could put us where we are today – on the brink of a Labour government that will give Britain its future back.
“Throughout the selection process I’ll do my best to keep the Labour and trade union movement in Islington united around our common goals – delivering Keir Starmer’s five missions, enacting Labour’s New Deal for Working People and achieving a new, comprehensive partnership with Europe to reverse the most damaging effects of Brexit.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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