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| Labour mayoral contest: carping and snarking on the road to City Hall | Labour mayoral contest: carping and snarking on the road to City Hall |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Labour’s convoluted contest to select a mayoral candidate for 2016 is proceeding in the way all London mayoral contests do, with lots of posing, carping and snarking and rather less dreary stuff like policy. It’s no surprise. Labour surely knows it cannot take reclaiming City Hall for granted, but unless the Tories dig up a potential winner from somewhere – they’re shovelling hard down in Richmond, apparently - the hardest part of the race to take over from Boris Johnson will be between now and the vote for a Labour candidate in September. Elbows are flying accordingly. | Labour’s convoluted contest to select a mayoral candidate for 2016 is proceeding in the way all London mayoral contests do, with lots of posing, carping and snarking and rather less dreary stuff like policy. It’s no surprise. Labour surely knows it cannot take reclaiming City Hall for granted, but unless the Tories dig up a potential winner from somewhere – they’re shovelling hard down in Richmond, apparently - the hardest part of the race to take over from Boris Johnson will be between now and the vote for a Labour candidate in September. Elbows are flying accordingly. |
| The first stage of the campaign is now well underway. It involves the capital’s 73 constituency Labour parties (CLPs) nominating two hopefuls from the assembled field to go forward to a shortlisting interview, which has been set for June 13. Contestants require five nominations to be considered for this grilling by a panel comprising three people from Labour’s national executive committee and three from its London region. If they are also nominated by an affiliated union or other organisation an interview is guaranteed, though it seems unlikely that anyone getting five CLP nods alone will be turned down. The shortlist will be announced on the same day. | The first stage of the campaign is now well underway. It involves the capital’s 73 constituency Labour parties (CLPs) nominating two hopefuls from the assembled field to go forward to a shortlisting interview, which has been set for June 13. Contestants require five nominations to be considered for this grilling by a panel comprising three people from Labour’s national executive committee and three from its London region. If they are also nominated by an affiliated union or other organisation an interview is guaranteed, though it seems unlikely that anyone getting five CLP nods alone will be turned down. The shortlist will be announced on the same day. |
| So far, 35 CLPs have made their picks. The scorecard is as follows: Tessa Jowell 31; Sadiq Khan 23; David Lammy 8; Diane Abbott 4; Christian Wolmar 2; Gareth Thomas 1. Therefore three have crossed the CLP finish line including the two favourites, former ministers Jowell and Khan, who is also Tooting’s MP. Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, will expect join them and her Tottenham counterpart Lammy at some point by 9 June, when the last of the CLPs will take their decisions. Wolmar and Thomas will be biting their nails. | So far, 35 CLPs have made their picks. The scorecard is as follows: Tessa Jowell 31; Sadiq Khan 23; David Lammy 8; Diane Abbott 4; Christian Wolmar 2; Gareth Thomas 1. Therefore three have crossed the CLP finish line including the two favourites, former ministers Jowell and Khan, who is also Tooting’s MP. Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, will expect join them and her Tottenham counterpart Lammy at some point by 9 June, when the last of the CLPs will take their decisions. Wolmar and Thomas will be biting their nails. |
| The figures to this point tell a slightly misleading tale. The CLPs must choose at least one woman to go through to the next stage. In theory they can favour both Abbott and Jowell, but none have so far. This suggests that in practice there have effectively been two separate races going on, one for the ladies and another for the gents. | The figures to this point tell a slightly misleading tale. The CLPs must choose at least one woman to go through to the next stage. In theory they can favour both Abbott and Jowell, but none have so far. This suggests that in practice there have effectively been two separate races going on, one for the ladies and another for the gents. |
| It’s no surprise that Jowell, a former London and Olympics minister, is ahead on the distaff side of the track, but the margin of her lead over Abbott is striking. London’s Labour grassroots are reckoned pretty lefty and there was some expectation - including among fellow candidates - that Abbott, a stalwart of the parliamentary socialist campaign group, would be doing better at this stage of the game. | It’s no surprise that Jowell, a former London and Olympics minister, is ahead on the distaff side of the track, but the margin of her lead over Abbott is striking. London’s Labour grassroots are reckoned pretty lefty and there was some expectation - including among fellow candidates - that Abbott, a stalwart of the parliamentary socialist campaign group, would be doing better at this stage of the game. |
| Competition is tougher among the men, which means that Jowell’s overall lead in nominations so far might not be quite as telling as it at first appears. Lammy, who declared his intentions way back in September, seems to be running a well-resourced and intense campaign, just as Khan and Jowell are. | Competition is tougher among the men, which means that Jowell’s overall lead in nominations so far might not be quite as telling as it at first appears. Lammy, who declared his intentions way back in September, seems to be running a well-resourced and intense campaign, just as Khan and Jowell are. |
| Will either of the other guys manage the magic five? Thomas can expect to get the nod from Harrow West, which he represents in the House, and his ideas for bringing more Co-operative principles to the way City Hall works will hold appeal. He has the disadvantage, though, of having joined the jostling rather late. | Will either of the other guys manage the magic five? Thomas can expect to get the nod from Harrow West, which he represents in the House, and his ideas for bringing more Co-operative principles to the way City Hall works will hold appeal. He has the disadvantage, though, of having joined the jostling rather late. |
| By contrast, Wolmar, the journalist and transport commentator has been trekking across the capital, mostly by bicycle, since 2012 making his case to gatherings of members and activists. He is now targeting those of the remaining CLPs where he’s been well-received, arguing that his distinctive, green and detailed agenda deserves a fuller hearing. With Khan and Lammy already through to the next stage, how about those CLPs using their boy-vote to broaden the scope of the forthcoming debate and reward him for his admirable efforts? | By contrast, Wolmar, the journalist and transport commentator has been trekking across the capital, mostly by bicycle, since 2012 making his case to gatherings of members and activists. He is now targeting those of the remaining CLPs where he’s been well-received, arguing that his distinctive, green and detailed agenda deserves a fuller hearing. With Khan and Lammy already through to the next stage, how about those CLPs using their boy-vote to broaden the scope of the forthcoming debate and reward him for his admirable efforts? |
| I think Wolmar has a point. It would be good for his party and for London if he progressed. But he will know as well as anyone that the quest for nominations is no cuddly preliminary. Jowell looks firmly on course to get the largest number but Khan, well in line for the second most, will want the difference to be as small as possible. Jowell and Lammy have aimed veiled snipes at Khan, the former with her campaign launch comment about “backroom deals”, the latter by telling the Sunday Politics that the candidate mustn’t be a “party stooge”. | I think Wolmar has a point. It would be good for his party and for London if he progressed. But he will know as well as anyone that the quest for nominations is no cuddly preliminary. Jowell looks firmly on course to get the largest number but Khan, well in line for the second most, will want the difference to be as small as possible. Jowell and Lammy have aimed veiled snipes at Khan, the former with her campaign launch comment about “backroom deals”, the latter by telling the Sunday Politics that the candidate mustn’t be a “party stooge”. |
| Claims that the whole selection process was contrived to assist Khan, who led Ed Miliband’s Labour leadership campaign, have been being fed to journalists for months. Khan’s got the backing of big unions, Unite and the GMB, so that’s another “stitch up” angle for those so inclined. Khan’s also been getting grief for avoiding questions about his mayoral intentions before the general election. Shouldn’t he have come clean to the constituents of his marginal seat before seeking their votes? | Claims that the whole selection process was contrived to assist Khan, who led Ed Miliband’s Labour leadership campaign, have been being fed to journalists for months. Khan’s got the backing of big unions, Unite and the GMB, so that’s another “stitch up” angle for those so inclined. Khan’s also been getting grief for avoiding questions about his mayoral intentions before the general election. Shouldn’t he have come clean to the constituents of his marginal seat before seeking their votes? |
| That’s one way to look at it. Khan’s case is that he had his party’s campaign across London to lead and that it would have been wrong to have done anything that would have distracted from that. He upbraided others for indulging in a “beauty parade” as long ago as December 2013. Mightn’t Lammy, who declared early and began campaigning straight away, be accused of putting his personal ambitions before those of his party? Mightn’t Jowell and Abbott, who both declared before the election that they’d formally start campaigning after it was gone, have been having their cake and eating it? And so it goes... | That’s one way to look at it. Khan’s case is that he had his party’s campaign across London to lead and that it would have been wrong to have done anything that would have distracted from that. He upbraided others for indulging in a “beauty parade” as long ago as December 2013. Mightn’t Lammy, who declared early and began campaigning straight away, be accused of putting his personal ambitions before those of his party? Mightn’t Jowell and Abbott, who both declared before the election that they’d formally start campaigning after it was gone, have been having their cake and eating it? And so it goes... |
| Happily, Labour’s final selection line-up will be decided within a fortnight. It’s impossible to imagine Khan and Jowell not being included and unless he makes a royal hash of a shortlisting interview, Lammy will surely be there too. Expect the same to go for Abbott. Fingers crossed for Wolmar. The carping and snarking will continue throughout the summer. But between them these mayoral hopefuls have some good ideas. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll also get to hear much more about those soon. You can depend on this column to provide its share. |