A white council leader who once joked that he had “the worst tan possible for a black man” has been selected to stand as a Labour MP.
Darren Rodwell, the leader of Barking and Dagenham London borough council, fought off selection competition from councillor Josie Channer, a black councillor who has previously run for selection near Bristol.
Channer was previously selected for the Kingswood seat in Gloucestershire, but stood down after she was found to have £2,000 in unpaid parking fines, in 2013. The Black Labour movement had backed Channer’s campaign.
Rodwell was investigated after a video emerged of him telling an audience at a Black History Month event he used to do “swing dance” and loved “jiggling about”.
“You might have known that I’ve got the worst possible tan possible for a black man,” Rodwell said at the event. “But I have the passion and the rhythm of the African and the Caribbean. I used to do swing dance, because I used to love jiggling about.”
He was cleared of wrongdoing after an hour-long interview in front of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), and also apologised on Twitter for making the “stupid and embarrassing” remarks and the offence caused. He later told the Independent he had worn the kufi, with his colleagues’ blessing, after he took part in a Nigerian Independence Day event on 1 October.
A local source has claimed it is another example of “blatant stitch-ups”, with Momentum adding the party has swept “anti-black racism under the carpet out of factional loyalty”. Earlier this year a number of black MPs claimed the party was not taking the matter seriously enough after the Forde report was published.
A senior Labour source refuted the claims of “factional loyalty”, claiming there have been instances where some leftwing candidates were allowed on to long lists as they were able to “apologise and understand what they have done wrong”. But some are blocked from lists because they appeared “arrogant” and “can’t understand that what they have done is bad. That’s a problem,” they said.
Rodwell was able to tell the committee it was an “awful thing for me to say”, a source close to the investigation told the Guardian, with locals from his constituency providing evidence to the NEC that he’s “an ally”.
The council leader will replace Dame Margaret Hodge as the candidate for Barking, as she will step down at the next election after 27 years in parliament.
A Momentum spokesperson told the Guardian: “Coming after an expose of Labour’s failures on anti-black racism under Keir Starmer, Rodwell’s selection lays bare a serious issue in the party. Just as the Forde report warned, anti-black racism is being swept under the carpet out of factional loyalty.
“As black Labour MPs have said, the leadership’s actions risk losing the faith and support of BAME communities.
“What’s more, it makes a mockery of Labour’s claim that the ongoing purge of leftwingers from parliamentary selections is about ‘due diligence’ – when trade unionists are blocked for once liking an apolitical Nicola Sturgeon tweet, while prominent Labour Right candidates can freely joke about racist tropes without so much as a slap on the wrist, it’s clear that the system is being rigged.”
A Labour party spokesperson said after the investigation: “The Labour party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
