Cllr Shama Tatler is in the spotlight after London Labour announced her as the parliamentary candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green following the unceremonious sacking of long-term candidate Faiza Shaheen by Keir Starmer yesterday. This means that she has been chosen centrally by Labour rather than going through the local democratic selection process.
Faiza Shaheen, a new mother and local had been campaigning in the seat for four years. It remains to be seen whether the Brent Lead Member for Regeneration will benefit from that work.
Faiza Shaheen said on Twitter:
Really! Wow a Brent councillor with no history here at all. They would rather lose than have a left pro-Palestine candidate. This is offensive to my community.
It appears that Tatler has been parachuted into a bed of nettles amidst the current controversy over a 'Starmerite purge' and allegations of a negative attitude towards ethnic minority and female candidates in the wake of the leadership's treatment of Diane Abbott. Of course Shama Tatler is also ethnic minority and female.
There were mixed comments on Twitter with some pointing to Tatler's membership of the JLM as finding favour with Starmer. LINK One person accused her of 'trampling' on Faiza Shaheen.
Shama Tatler is on Labour's NCC the party's disciplinary committee and backed Luke Akenhurst for the NEC. I understand that there is currently a conduct complaint against her lodged with the Labour Party.
She previously sought the Labour parliamentary candidate nomination for Watford. This video was part of her campaign.
Meanwhile people are flocking to the support of Faiza Shaheen after her emotional interview on Newsnight last night.
Faiza Shaheen's statement on yesterday's events:
Following boundary changes, what are the chances of Shama Tatler winning the seat previously held by Ian Duncan Smith for the Conservatives? The website Electoral Calculus has the projection below but this does not take into account the latest developments and the possibility of an Independent campaign by Faiza Shaheen.
52 comments:
Good riddance from Brent. She should do the decent thing (seems it doesn’t come naturally to her) and stand down from her current role as Southwood has to allow a by-election in Kingsbury.
So no local Constituency Labour Party would bother to select Tatler so she gets her chance by trampling over a Labour comrade to get the Starmer stamp of approval.
Hardly evidence of "Labour has changed" as typical Labour back stabbing come to the fore.
Hamas are genocidal and protestors call for the destruction of Israel, so yes she is as much an election liability as it is to like the Green Party tweets that are confused about what a woman us. Tatler will make an amazing MP after everything she has overcome
The grass roots has lost touch with the rank and file...
Congratulations Sharma
They are welcome to you, just hurry up and go and take your qualifications for building Towerblocks with you.
I would echo the `good riddance' comment except that I wouldn't wish Shama Tatler on anyone, least of all where someone has been so unjustly treated as Faiza Shaheen. What we won't miss is Tatler's `guiding hand' on regeneration in South Kilburn, where she has refused to even discuss problems or to meet those who want to point them out.
Edited comment: We can here the cheers across Brent that, if she becomes an MP she will make Brent a better place by her absence. As for any damage she will do as an MP, that is doubtful as she will no doubt be a pawn sacrificed as necessary. As for the Labour Party NEC dumping a great candidate for an incompetent, it shows what has become of the Labour Party.
She must stand down from her cabinet position immediately.
Sums up Tatler. An opportunist with zero self-awareness. We are better off without her but if she gets elected, God forbid, she will be a useless MP who has no links, no understanding and no history with the constituency she is trying to steal from a well liked sitting MP. No doubt she will keep serving herself and use that role as a stepping stone for other ambitions.
Israel is not displaying any genocidal behaviours then? Fake beheading of babies from their side but actual beheading of babies in Gaza is apparently a “tragic mistake” on Bibi’s part? What about all the violence in the west bank where Hamas don’t even operate? It’s outrageous and you should be ashamed of yourself.
Good luck. The quicker we’re rid of her the better. We cannot afford to have a separate by election in her wake!
What has Sharma said about being selected to an area she knows nothing about?
Can't wait to hear her comments about the constituency, and her plans for it.
Shall we send her directions on how to get here !
Woodford Don.
The NEC has just handed Chingford and Woodford Green to Duncan Smith. Removing a popular (note, not populist) candidate who was born and lives in the constituency with someone with no connection to the borough is a striking own goal. Many people here who would have voted for Faiza will not vote for a candidate parachuted in by the NEC; if Faiza stands as an independent, many will still vote for her and split the anti-IDS vote.
It's not a surprise that Towerblock has been parachuted into such a toxic seat, she ideal as she is totally unaware of how very unpopular she is in Brent. She has put all her cards into the Labour to Win right-wing group along with the lobbyist Luke Akehurst who has been parachuted into the Durham seat. The Miners' Gala will be fun LOL
The sooner she is removed from Brent's Cabinet the better, but oh dear, who can replace her, a sycophant? opportunist? egotist? narcissistic? somebody's relation? are the most likely I suppose.
Still, I am sure Leader Butt will chose wisely as always.
Towerblock Tatler's bestie
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24355642.luke-akehurst-labour-pick-extremist-israel-lobbyist-safe-seat/#:~:text=Luke%20Akehurst%2C%20who%20lives%20in,disproportionate%E2%80%9D%20nor%20%E2%80%9Cgenocide%E2%80%9D.
I was a member of Chingford and Woodford Green Labour Party and a supporter of Faiza Shaheen, a clever, hard working candidate with a real commitment to the area in which she grew up. The Labour Party has now dumped this carpetbagger on us. No thanks. Local members are leaving in droves.
She is not welcome in Chingford, she will rue the day she accepted the Chingford sest
Shama Taylor is unlikely to win where Faiza Shaheen would have romped home to a win over Iain Duncan Smith. Faiza is our chosen local candidate, with roots historically and currently in the area. She has done the groundwork over years and is widely liked and respected for it. A leadership-imposed candidate with no history, unknown in the area and with no connection to it, will be there just to go through the motions. Let Faiza win for Labour!
Interesting post by journalist Gary Younge on Twitter:
@UKLabour
You must know ousting democratically selected people of colour & replacing them with people of the same colour that you’ve chosen is straight from the colonial playbook? Because we do. It doesn’t make you less racist; it makes your racism more cynical. #StandwithFaiza
I agree, Labour have made a mistep. The local party should decide their candidate, not the NEC.
Will Tatler be the most unwanted, despised and criticised Labour candidate in the forthcoming General Election? Thinking about it, not quite, but in the top ten without a shadow of a doubt.
Has Starmer parachuted her into Chingford and Woodford Green to get rid of her and shut up the Labour to Win cabal? The most likely scenario is that he is obviously willing to sacrifice the seat to IDS so he doesn't have to put up with her in parliament.
Our entire Chingford and Woodford Green Labour Party ask ever so politely that you refuse the nomination Ms Tatler.
#StandwithFaiza
Are you serious? This woman has zero support in Chingford and Woodford Green. I should know, I’m a member (or was) a member of the CLP’s Campaign Committee. We’ve just had a 1000 strong rally in support of Faiza Shaheen.
Labour has lost the plot and with it a lot of voters. How dare they treat us with such disdain!!
The massive and diverse turnout for Faiza was incredible. People present were of all colour and creed, showing she transcended all boundaries. Shama would struggle connecting with such a diverse audience as she comes from a borough - Brent - where thanks to the nefarious activities of her mentor - Butt - Council positions are largely filled with people from Butt's ethnic tribe. So bred in this environment, people in Chingford and Woodford Green beware as if elected, Shama comes with the rot of Brent Council in her very being and blood.
Will the by election for Tatlers seat be on July 4th too?
No notice of a casual vacancy has been posted on the Brent Council website which means Shama Tatler has not resigned as yet. If it is published the timetable will be tight. Two or more electors have to make a request to Kim Wright for a poll and then a notice of election is published. Completed nominations have to be in by Friday if the election it to be held on July 4th.
Shameful....thats all i can say
Come on Shama resign your cabinet post asap, and toddle off to pasture's new, the sooner you leave Bent the better. One down another 40+ to go of these dictatorship supporting councillors. I beg the electorate to vote out this horrific Labour Council, they've had their day, we desperately need a change in governance in Brent.
Ditto.
It’s called due diligence. Faiza was unsuitable, whilst Tatler is a rising star.
If Faiza was unsuitable why not handle the way she was removed from her position in a much better way???
Labour are supposed to be the 'fair' party in favour of workers rights built on the foundations of the trade union movement.
Here star can rise anywhere but in Brent, they are welcome to her. She obviously thinks cosing up to Keir has more mileage than Butt.
Rising star - good one!
"Tatler is a rising star"? Funniest thing I have read all year.
Towerblock Tatler a rising star? You're having a larf right? There are no "rising" stars in Butt's Bent Brent! All those that could have been rising have been hounded out to be replaced by Butt's family members, close friends and overtly and innately ineffectual nodders. Tatler is not leaving because she is a "rising star". Rather because the nepotistic makeup of Butt's Bent Brent cabinet means she will never be Leader....so long as Butt Bent Breathes.
If Labour think Tatler is a rising star, they must be firmamental!
Faiza is standing as an independent. Shama is shameless so isn't resigning in Brent but will hopefully be given the loss she deserves in Chingford.
You can’t have Labour candidates liking things Green Party politicians say. Have you not learnt this as to why our leader Cllr Butt has strictly warned Labour Cllrs not to engage with this blog? Labour is about progressive politics and that random corbynism grey area as to what is antisemitism or what is a woman, can’t be tolerated in a party where to win, we must appeal to conservative voters. You’re either with us or you are tory enablers. It’s that stark now.
Shama Tatler can't be confident of winning the Chingford seat or she would have resigned as a Brent Councillor already?
This exactly. She wants to keep her cabinet seat warm to fall back in. Let’s not forget she tried to stand as mp in Watford not too long ago too.
Amazed at the number of rude and spiteful comments/people on this forum.
Politics really does bring out the worst in people.
Agree the decent and honourable thing would be for Shama to resign. The fact that she hasn’t suggests she’s not confident she’ll win in Chingford. On the plus side, great to see Faiza is standing independently. Ordinarily I would vote Labour, but after Labour’s shambolic and humiliating treatment of Faiza I’m going GREEN. Labour are not to be trusted. Trust me.
Why another middle class party and not a party for the working class like SDP, Reform or workers party?
Have you seen that the mighty Unite Union are refusing to endorse the Labour Party manifesto...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722zkj9ly8o
One wonders if GMB are still backing Ms Towerblock, it has been said that UNITE are backing Dawn and Barry's election campaigns financially
Should stop finding them too. Nothing between them and the tories
Poorer workers paying their union fees to bankroll these wealthy MPs - shameful!
I am of the opinion that the Labour NEC displayed complete disregard for Faiza Shaheen by choosing to deselect her. My sympathy for her was so profound that I decided to convey it through a letter to The Hackney Gazette and The Harrow and Kilburn Times, with the hope that it will be published in this week's issue.
Referring to the comment from Anonymous on June 8th stating, "UNITE is financially backing Dawn and Barry's election campaigns," it raises the question: Why would it do so while publicly announcing its refusal to endorse Labour's currently undisclosed manifesto?
Further to my previous comment on the deselection of Faiza Shaheen, I would like to add that the Labour NEC's decision could potentially backfire as July 4th approaches. One possibility is that Labour supporters might reconsider their stance upon reflecting on how the committee handled the situation with a woman who recently gave birth to a newborn baby.
Dear Trevor, Well said and thank you for your well-founded support for Faiza Shaheen, as for the shocking replacement candidate, that was even more shocking and an insult.
Re UNITE - I would think that UNITE were making a point alongside not supporting the Labour Party manifesto.
Take a look at my guest post (about the minutes of the 28 May Brent Cabinet meeting):
https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2024/06/democracy-in-brent-open-email-to.html
You will see a screenshot, taken twelve seconds into the webcast recording of the Cabinet meeting, which should have begun at 10am on Tuesday 28 May. You will see that there is a slight delay, because Shama Tatler has to answer an urgent phone call. Under the caption, I've put: 'I wonder what that was about?'
It may just be a coincidence, but later the same day, in the afternoon of 28 May, Faiza Shaheen gets a phone call, telling her that she must attend an urgent online disciplinary hearing THAT EVENING.
The following day, 29 May, Faiza Shaheen is deselected as Labour's candidate for Chingford & Woodford Green.
On 30 May, Labour name Shama Tatler as their new candidate for that Parliamentary seat.
Was she advised by someone at Labour HQ two days earlier (perhaps at about 10am on 28 May?) that this might happen?
It could just be a coincidence, and I have no evidence as to what that call was about (although I was in the Conference Hall at Brent Civic Centre when it happened), but I can't help wondering!
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