LABOUR have been accused of the “worst political tribalism” after a candidate claimed she was not endorsed by the party over a series of posts she liked on Twitter/X.
Reports suggested that Faiza Shaheen was set to be the party’s candidate for the Chingford and Woodford Green seat in north east London.
She narrowly lost to Sir Iain Duncan Smith in the same seat at the 2019 election and told the BBC she “thought” she was going to be the candidate but got an email on Wednesday night which claimed she would “frustrate Labour’s purpose”.
Shaheen also said she was appearing on Newsnight just an hour or so after hearing her candidacy had been blocked.
The programme heard she was called to a meeting with a panel of Labour’s National Executive Committee on Tuesday in which they highlighted posts which raised questions about her suitability as a candidate.
One post said: “Every time you say something even mildly critical of Israel, you’re immediately assailed by scores of hysterical people who explain to you why you’re completely wrong, how you’re biased against Israel.
“Moreover, you can’t easily ignore them because those are not just random people. They tend to be friends or people who move in the same circles as you.
The full ten minutes of @faizashaheen on #newsnight. Faiza gave this interview only an hour after being told her candidacy had been blocked for liking a tweet. The people of Chingford and Woodford Green have been done a terrible disservice. pic.twitter.com/tYZ4ybr4xg
— Michael Walker (@michaeljswalker) May 29, 2024
“Those people are mobilised by professional organisations.”
Shaheen told Newsnight she does not remember liking the post in question.
She said: “I know what’s wrong with it, of course, the line that’s there about ‘they’re in professional organisations,’ it plays into a trope and I absolutely don’t agree with that and I’m sorry about that.
“And I expressed that I was sorry in that meeting yesterday over my crying baby but that’s one tweet.
“I’ve organised an interfaith vigil with a local Rabbi after the attacks, Hamas’s attack.”
She also told the programme she felt “foolish” and added "because everyone said I was the one socialist that was running, you know, it was a surprise that I wasn’t blocked earlier, everyone knows that.
“And of course they were going to come for me and I did something stupid and honestly I don’t remember liking that (tweet).”
Shaheen further added that some of the tweets which caused issue were about the Green Party while another was about her experience of Islamophobia.
“How am I not allowed to talk about my experiences of Islamophobia and the double standards that I have seen?”
She also said she was in a “state of shock” and had offered an apology to her supporters.
Asked what she wants to say to Labour leader Keir Starmer (below), Shaheen referenced Diane Abbott, whose position in terms of whether she can stand as a Labour candidate is yet to be clarified by the party.
She said: “On top of Gaza, on top of Diane Abbott and now this to me, when there’s such clear double standards of how other people have been treated when stuff has happened… what message are you sending my community? What message are you sending the black community?”
Many people took to social media to defend Shaheen, including the SNP candidate for Glasgow South Stewart McDonald who said: “I’ve never met @faizashaheen, but know her to be a doughty campaigner.
“Barring her from being a candidate because she liked some tweets from friends in the Green Party, and talking about her experience of Islamophobia, is the worst political tribalism from Labour.
“Utterly absurd.”
Elsewhere, journalist and National contributor Owen Jones said: “The way Faiza Shaheen has been treated here is disgusting.
“Starmer’s henchmen brief the Murdoch press first. She’s then booted out based on liked tweets which amount to nonsense.
“The people running the Labour Party are thugs.”
The SNP meanwhile have accused Starmer of a “purge of the Labour Party left”.
The party's candidate for Glasgow East David Linden said: “The way Diane Abbott and other progressive candidates have been treated is shameful – but what is more worrying for Scotland is that Starmer wants to remove all opposition so he can impose Tory policies including Brexit, austerity cuts, creeping NHS privatisation and denying Scotland any say over our future.”
