Bradford West: police enter row as candidate claims online smear
|
Version 0 of 1. Police have reportedly entered the toxic row over Labour’s general election selection debacle in Bradford amid claims one of the candidates shortlisted to fight George Galloway has been smeared on social media. Naveeda Ikram, a Labour councillor who was the first Muslim woman to become Bradford’s lord mayor, says she contacted police on Wednesday night. She alleges she has been impersonated online by someone who wanted to suggest she held racist, sectarian views. At the hustings on Saturday she lost to Amina Ali, a councillor from east London who resigned abruptly 72 hours after her selection, citing family commitments. Ali quit on Wednesday, claiming to have suddenly realised it was going to be difficult to balance her job as a mother of two children and the demands of an election campaign. Few in Bradford believed her, as the Guardian reported. Well placed local observers are adamant that she stepped back after realising she had been used as a pawn by local Kashmiri clan elders in their attempt to control Bradford. Ali has not responded to requests for comment from the Guardian. Since Ali’s surprise departure, things are getting increasingly nasty in the constituency. Ikram says she called West Yorkshire police on Wednesday after after being made aware of “fake” racist messages circulating on social media purporting to be from her. The screenshot, seen by the Guardian, purports to show a Facebook conversation between Ikram and another person following Ali’s selection on Saturday. In the exchange, the user labelled as Naveeda Ikram makes disparaging remarks about Ali’s Somali background and the fact Labour’s last MP for Bradford West, Marsha Singh, was a Sikh. Ikram denies all association with the profile and insists it is fake, designed to smear her while she decides whether to run again in Bradford West. She said she had not yet decided whether to stand, noting that the winning candidate would have a mountain to climb to beat Galloway in just seven weeks. On Wednesday night Labour readvertised the vacancy in Bradford West on the party members’ website. It remains an all-women-shortlist (AWS). Local Labour councillors firmly believe the AWS was imposed by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) to stop the Bradford deputy council leader, Imran Hussain, from standing again. Hussain lost to Galloway in a byelection in 2012, when the Respect leader gained a 10,000-plus majority on a 36.6% swing from Labour. Hussain, who is also chair of the Bradford West constituency Labour party, made no secret of his desire to contest the seat in this year’s general election. Thwarted by the AWS, he eventually won the selection contest in neighbouring Bradford East, where he will try to overturn the slim majority of Liberal Democrat David Ward. Nominations for the re-selection in Bradford West will close on Friday, when the Labour national executive committee’sspecial selections panel will draw up a shortlist. On Monday next week the NEC panel will interview those shortlisted and they will appoint a candidate. Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East, was on the interview panel which shortlisted Ali and Ikram a few weeks ago. It is not clear if he will be involved second time round. |