AWS row – Might Ann Clwyd cancel her retirement from parliament and stand in 2015?

Despite announcing that she was stepping down as MP for Cynon Valley earlier this year, Ann Clwyd might have had a change of heart – she’s said she might stand again in the General Election.

Speaking to Wales Online, 76 year old Clwyd – who’s been the MP for Cynon Valley for 30 years – confirmed rumours that local constituents had been asking for her to run as the Labour candidate next May. She said “I have received many letters from people asking me to stand again and I am thinking about it. The NEC hasn’t moved to select a new candidate yet and I can’t see them doing so in August.”

Clwyd’s surprising about-face comes after the local Labour party had rebelled against the centrally-made decision to ear-mark Cynon Valley as a constituency that would use an All-Women Shortlist (AWS) to select the party’s candidate for 2015.  As we wrote at the start of June when this dispute began to bubble over – Alun Williams who led the revolt against the decision – had said that they wanted to pick the “best candidate, regardless of their gender”. Clywd supported the local constituency’s decision. Although  we noted at the time that when it comes to gender, the political landscape isn’t this straightforward.

The central Labour party, however, remained firm over the matter and said that although local officers said they wouldn’t co-operate in an AWS selection process, it would be run by Labour’s central organisation.

Now that Clwyd potentially remaining as an MP is added to the equation, we wonder what’s going to happen next…

Update: In response to these rumours, a Welsh Labour spokesperson has released the following statement:

“We have not been formally approached about this and are in the process of arranging for a full selection in Cynon Valley.”