A LITTLE LOCAL difficulty or all out civil war? Either way, the selection battle for the next Labour parliamentary candidate looks like getting rough.
Sarah Mackinlay, the daughter of former Thurrock MP, Andrew Mackinlay, has expressed her disappointment at not making the final run off to decide who will be the prospective parliamentary candidate for Thurrock at the next election.
The final vote on December 3rd is between Ed Miliband’s special advisor Polly Billington and Irish rights worker Anne Marie Waters.
Ms Mackinlay said: “I am very disappointed that my name has been excluded from the ballot paper and that the choice for Labour Party members in Thurrock has been seriously restricted. That I have to accept.
“I am, however, heartened in the knowledge that included in the ballot is Anne Marie Waters, who is a dogged fighter and most importantly she is fearless and independent, in the tradition of my father, Andrew MacKinlay.”
The apparent endorsement of Miss Waters and the reference to her as “independent” has been interpreted by some as a reference to Polly Billington’s position as a special advisor to Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Some feel that there are many Labour members who are unhappy with Ms Billington being “imposed” upon them and that may be reflected in the vote.
Whilst others believe that Kent-based Ms Mackinlay’s “underwhelming” performance in front of the selection committee last Saturday that they left them no choice but to only select two candidates.
Just who is this Sarah Mackinlay other than Andrews Daughter and a political journalist, has she ever done anything for Thurrock in the past, so what would make her any better placed that the other two candidates who also have done jack all for Thurrock so far???
How about bucking the trend and actually getting someone who knows the area to stand as a representative for the area.
Lambo, didn’t they try that with ‘Caring’ Carl Morris? That went well as I recall. Looking at the local shambles of a Labour Party, I can’t see anybody that would fit the bill as our local MP. I agree with you, had anybody heard of Sarah Mackinlay before this past week? I doubt it.
At least Jackie Doyle Price lives in Thurrock.
Well let’s not pretend that Jackie Doyle-Price is along standing Thurrock resident now.
FYI Jackie has live in Thurrock for 5 yrs and had other jobs before being an MP (not like Labour which are full time political Islington types)
I was at a meeting of members of the Labour Party on 14th November, 2011 to meet the “short-listed candidates. The meeting was attended by the “usual suspects” i.e Councillors and self styled Thurrock Labour Party luminaries, though I did note some who were conspicuous by their absence. As to the Committee tasked with short-listing candidates, it was more akin to a cabal than a group of fair minded people. The summary elimination of Sarah Mackinlay was, to say the least, distasteful and appeared to be motivated, not by Ms Mackiinlay’s perceived short-comings, but by malevolence on the part of some members of the Committee. When challenged Cllr John Kent stated that Sarah Mackinlay had been eliminated as she did not meet with certain criteria thereby failing to score sufficient number of points needed to be short-listed. When further challenged Cllr Kent would not elaborate on the applied criteria except to say they were a statutory [Labour Party] obligation. Assuming that the criteria requires that Parlimentary candidates should have a public school education and/or a University degree, does Cllr Kent think the same criteria should be applied to other political posts such as Councillors? I can only conclude that, if that were the case, the vast majority of seats in the Council Chamber would be empty. If the members of the cabal that met on 12th November, 2011 believes that Ms Anne Marie Waters is a “patsy”, i.e. a token contestant, they may well have made an error by ignoring her qualities and credentials as a serious contender. Ms Polly Billington and her supporters could find the contest tougher than they expected. I urge all members of the Labour Party in Thurrock to submit their postal vote or attend the meeting on 3rd December, 2011 to ensure that our Parliamentary candidate is chosen by all members of the Party not imposed upon us by a cabal. In so far as the MP living in Thurrock, I do not attach the same importance to that requirement as Lambo and Bernard87 do. Local issues are what we elect our Councillors for and it it their duty to ensure that the MP is fully aware of such issues and to raise them in the House of Commons where appropriate. As gray64 points out we tried that in 2010 with Carl Morris with the slogan “Made in Thurrock” and it seems that the majority were not impressed with the product on offer. It is not where the MP lives that counts it is the effectiveness of his/her representation of the constituents in Parliament.