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Labour councillor deselected "for being a Blairite"

Cllr Mike Katz, a Labour councillor in Kilburn Ward in Camden, has been deselected from standing as a Labour candidate in the council elections next year.

The Camden New Journal reports:

Cllr Katz had been looking to stand for selection in the Hampstead and Kilburn parliamentary constituency before that idea was torpedoed by the imposition of an all-women shortlist. He declined to comment on the result.

Councillors were not allowed to be part of the review of the process. Areas being looked at were whether the selection meeting was quorate due to small numbers attending. There was a suggestion only eight Kilburn ward members attended on the night to vote.

More than one Labour source has suggested that differences of opinion over policy within the group lay behind the surprise result, with Cllr Katz cast, fairly or not, as a Blairite who had supported Sarah Hayward in last year’s knife-edge leadership contest.

Those on the left of the party line, in general, supported Tulip Siddiq’s rival bid, which lost out by one vote last year.

It's got a rather 1970s feel. I suppose Unite will say it is an encouraging case study of the impact a very small number of activists can have. If Cllr Katz was lazy or useless then by all means ditch him. However it seems that in the Labour Party today the Blairites need to watch their backs. That those holding such views are not acceptable as Labour candidates.

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