UK
“A systematic campaign of racism, Islamophobia & bullying” – Faiza Shaheen statement
Following the factional late removal of Faiza Shaheen as Labour’s candidate for Chingford & Woodford Green in the General Election, Faiza has released the following public statement.
At 9pm last night I learned by email that Labour has removed me as its candidate for Chingford & Woodford Green, less than six weeks before the General Election. The day before, I received an email from the Labour Party summoning me to a “change of circumstances” interview at 6pm that day. At no point did anyone speak to me personally.
My husband was at work and I undertook the interview with three members of Labours national executive – Michael Wheeler, Gurinder Singh Josan and Wendy Nichols – with a crying baby on my lap, with no time to prepare, and suffering from mastitis. My friend, Dawn Butler MP, was allowed into the virtual meeting with me but was told she must stay silent.
The thrust of the questioning was that I had “liked” posts including historic tweets liking Green Party candidates, and criticising Israel and its action in Gaza, and, as a result, I was damaging Labour’s electoral chances. For the record, I immediately condemned the actions of Hamas on October 7th. I support the immediate release of Israeli hostages and organised a vigil with local rabbis, imams, priests and reverends straight after the attack, allowing local people to grieve and reflect together.
I do not see this position as incompatible with the view that there should also be a ceasefire in Gaza, where thousands of women and children have been killed, and humanitarian aid is being denied to starving citizens who are not responsible for the actions of terrorists.
Seats like ours are crucial if Labour is to form the next Government and I have worked tirelessly for over six years to elect our first ever Labour MP here. On the doorstep, one of the key concerns voters have is Gaza, with many angry at the position the national party has taken. I have gone out of my way to address their concerns and persuade them that Labour is still the right choice for the country and that we are worthy of their vote.
It has been challenging for me to fight the campaign with a newborn baby but I have built solid support here for Labour. I have good relationships with local businesses and community groups and everywhere I go people stop me in the street to talk to me about their hopes for change in this marginal seat.
I am heartbroken at this decision, but it does not come as a surprise. It is the end of a systematic campaign of racism, Islamophobia and bullying from some within the party which began when I first announced that I wanted to run for Labour again. There are numerous examples of how I have been singled out for unfair treatment. This includes being banned from speaking publicly about my experiences of racism within the party, stripped of a paid party organiser when 7½ months pregnant (the only candidate in a key marginal seat not to have one) and told to “curb the attitude” when I raised that Labour was not taking the concerns of the Muslim community seriously enough. I have not experienced this level of relentless hostility in all my personal or professional life – not even from the Conservatives.
I really wanted to win this seat – I grew up here, went to school here and live here now. I wanted to win for my neighbours and my community because they deserve better. I am so desperately sorry that this has happened but would like to sincerely thank everyone who worked so hard for me and Labour in Chingford & Woodford Green.
Today I have been meeting with my campaign and legal teams to discuss my next steps. This is not the end of my story and I will be releasing all the detail of what has happened to me publicly.
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
The figures on the left who have been deselected by Labour.
Speculation surfaced this week that Diane Abbott would not be allowed to stand for the Labour party in her Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency in the forthcoming election. On May 31, Keir Starmer ended the speculation, telling reporters she is “free to go forward” as a Labour candidate.
Prior to Starmer’s announcement, the veteran Labour politician Diane Abbott accused the party of carrying out a “cull” of left-wing candidates.
The controversy surrounding Abbott’s future with the party, placed the spotlight on a number of figures, considered to be on the left of the party, who have been deselected by Labour to run as candidates, ahead of the June 7 deadline. At that point, all parties must have submitted the candidates standing in the general election.
Here are the left-wing figures who have been blocked from standing as Labour candidates in the general election.
Jeremy Corbyn
The former Labour leader, who led the party from 2015 to 2020, has represented Islington North since 1983. Corbyn had the whip removed in November 2020 after he insisted that the accusations of antisemitism in the party while he was leader had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons.” Corbyn officially launched his campaign to be an independent MP this week, saying he wanted to be an “independent voice for equality, for democracy, and peace.”
Sam Tarry
In October 2022, Sam Tarry was deselected as an MP by local Labour members, amid a row in the Ilford South constituency. Tarry, who is in a relationship with Angela Rayner, has alleged serious concerns about the conduct of the campaign against him to Labour HQ claiming that he had discovered “ghost members” who had left the constituency or died. The former trade union official who helped organise Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, was sacked as shadow transport minister in July 2022, after he attended a picket line to support RMT workers.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle
On May 29, Lloyd Russell-Moyle announced that Labour had told him that he would not be eligible to be a candidate at the July 4th election. The MP for Brighton Kemptown, who was elected in 2017, said he believes the deselection is a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” about his behaviour eight years ago.
In a personal statement on social media, Russell-Moyle said the complaint letter “came out of the blue” from someone anonymous to him.
“This is a false allegation that I dispute totally, and I believe it was designed to disrupt this election.
“There isn’t enough time to defend myself as these processes within the party take too long, so the party have told me that I will not be eligible to be a candidate at the next election. I’m gutted.”
Faiza Shaheen
Faiza Shaheen, an economist in economic inequality, has been blocked by Labour from standing in Chingford and Woodford Green. The decision was based on a series of tweets that allegedly raised concerns over her suitability as a candidate. One tweet was about her experiences of Islamophobia within the party, said Shaheen, 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 on BBC Newsnight, Shaheen said she was in a state of shock after receiving an email informing that her candidacy had been blocked. In the 2019 general election, Shaheen came within just 1,262 votes of unseating Iain Duncan Smith. She claims she has faced a “systematic campaign of racism, Islamophobia and bullying,” and has announced she will challenge the decision in the courts.
Corbyn said he wanted to be an "independent voice for equality, for democracy and for peace"
Chris Jarvis
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn formally launched his campaign to be elected as an independent MP for Islington North last night (29 May). Corbyn is standing as an independent after being blocked from being a Labour candidate in the general election.
At a packed meeting, Corbyn started the launch by saying that he wanted to be an “independent voice for equality, for democracy and for peace” and slammed what he described as a “political system that is no longer, sadly, offering the hope to so many people that it should.”
Corbyn continued by saying: “Politics should be about hope. Politics should be about making sure that those that are silenced are heard, those that are pushed aside are brought back in, those whose needs are so often unmet. It short, it is about the hope that we can bring to people. That’s what politics ought to do.”
Among the specific policy areas Corbyn pledged to campaign on were scrapping the two child benefit cap, ending sanctions for benefits claimants, taking public services such as water and Royal Mail into public ownership and introducing rent controls in the private sector.
He also claimed that almost the entire constituency had been leafleted since he announced his candidacy less than a week ago.
The Labour Party has selected Praful Nargund to contest the seat. While Labour’s current national poll rating suggests they are on tack for a landslide victory at the election, Keir Starmer’s party will no doubt be worried that Corbyn’s local record and high profile will see him return to parliament on an independent ticket.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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