I left the Labour party last year mainly because of what I felt to be the total disregard that the leadership of the party had for the wishes of its members. Recent events have only served to reinforce that belief. Most attention has been paid, understandably, to the lamentable efforts of the party to edge Diane Abbott out of the door, but I feel the way that Faiza Shaheen has been treated is more indicative of the way Labour is moving under Keir Starmer (I was mistreated – and that’s why hundreds of people will no longer vote Labour, they’ve told me, 31 May).
In the 2019 election, Ms Shaheen came to within a whisker, 1,262 votes, of defeating the Tory candidate, Iain Duncan Smith. Normally, marginal constituencies such as Chingford and Woodford Green would be the first to select candidates for the next election.
In my constituency, Corby, the Tories have a 10,000 vote majority and the Labour candidate was chosen early last year. Logic suggests that the candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green should have been selected some time ago.
The only reason I can think of for holding the selection so late is to stop Ms Shaheen from appealing. Does this mean that Labour under Starmer would prefer to take the chance of having a rightwing white man win the seat rather than having the certainty of a leftwing Asian heritage woman take it?
Gordon Glassford
Corby, Northamptonshire
• Loyal Labour supporters have had to put up with a lot, as popular policies are watered down and reversed in pursuit of wavering Tory voters, but the disgraceful treatment of Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen has proved the last straw for many. Abbott apologised rapidly for her ill-judged letter to the Observer and complied with Labour’s disciplinary process.
Shaheen, an excellent candidate, has been barred peremptorily from standing against Iain Duncan Smith, whom she has been working hard to defeat, apparently as a result of a dubious tweet trawl.
By yielding to pressure over Abbott, Keir Starmer has shown that he has the power to put a stop to this internal blood-letting. He should now announce that Shaheen will be fully reinstated and focus his energies on exposing the corrupt and venal Tories.
Dr Anthony Isaacs
London
• I live and vote in Faiza Shaheen’s constituency, and am an active member of the local Green party. In 2019, before the previous general election, I attended a meeting at which Keir Starmer introduced and endorsed Faiza as a “fantastic candidate”.
I spoke to her afterwards, and she convinced me that she had good green credentials. I was instrumental in persuading the Green party not to stand in the constituency, and as a result ours was one of the few with a swing to Labour, and we came within 1,000 votes of unseating the sitting MP, Iain Duncan Smith.
I suspended my loyalty to the Greens and voted for Faiza. Then, as now, I regarded defeating the Tories as the top priority.
But this won’t happen this time round. The only beneficiary of the Labour party’s high-handed approach will be Duncan Smith. And what shocks me most is that this represents yet another of Starmer’s U-turns. Faiza is no less fantastic now than she was in 2019.
Francis Roads
London
• The Labour party’s deselection of Faiza Shaheen has sent ripples of anger and frustration through Chingford and Woodford Green. For many of us, it was Faiza on the ballot, not Labour. A candidate passionate and knowledgable about our area, educated in our schools, a familiar face on our high street. A far cry from incumbent Iain Duncan Smith and his distant Buckinghamshire mansion.
Removing this hugely popular candidate – voted in by local party members – and replacing her with a stranger feels like a clear message from the party HQ: we don’t care about your choice, or your area. While the community suffers, the Tories must be gleeful.
Elizabeth Murray
London
• The barring of Faiza Shaheen from standing as the Labour candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green is reminiscent of what was happening under Boris Johnson in the Conservative party. Anyone who did not share his views was sidelined, marginalised and barred from standing as a Conservative candidate. The party suffered a dearth of experience and ability, with loyalists of the calibre of Gavin Williamson being promoted to cabinet positions. It culminated in Liz Truss and then Rishi Sunak being the best available to be prime minister. And the Conservative party is now on course for annihilation.
Faiza Shaheen would have made an excellent Labour candidate. A highly gifted economist from a working-class and minority ethnic background, she has been barred for seemingly trivial reasons other than that she is on the left of the party. Many others have been expelled from the Labour party. Boris Johnson’s Conservative party swept to power with a big majority but is now on the brink of destruction. Is Starmer’s Labour party on a similar trajectory?
Graeme Booth
Bridge, Kent
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