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A SHORTLIST of two candidates to fight Coventry North West for Labour amid a ‘stitch-up’ furore comprises a London politician and a local trade unionist. we can reveal.
The shortlist was drawn up at regional party HQ yesterday despite a walk-out by local constituency party officials, as we reported yesterday.
Local members have been up in arms that experienced Coventry councillors who applied had been left off longlists drawn up by national officials under emergency rules.
As we have been reporting, local constituency parties Coventry North West and Coventry South have claimed the procedures have been unfairly hijacked to bypass local democracy and effectively ‘parachute in’ national candidates favoured by the national party leadership.
The party insists its ‘snap election’ rules have been properly applied for the high-demand city seats, and that choices have been made on merit.
We understand the Coventry North West shortlist is…
Taiwo Owatemi – from Greenwich, London. Considered a rising star nationally, a young Fabian and health campaigner. She works as a pharmacist.
Des Arthur- official for the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at Coventry Royal Mail. Local but has little political experience beyond the union and has not been selected so far for Coventry City Council.
We revealed last night the two names on the Coventry South shortlist, where there have been similar protests.
Constituency party members are now set to hold selection meetings to decide who their candidates will be to fight the next general election from their shortlists.
It follows the decisions of veteran MPs Geoffrey Robinson and Jim Cunningham to step down at the next election.
