Sara Conway selected to fight for Labour in Finchley and Golders Green

Sara Conway has been selected to stand as Labour’s parliamentary candidate in the marginal seat of Finchley and Golders Green at the next election.

On Sunday, Conway won the selection race, coming ahead of former parliamentary candidate Christian Wolmar, Corbynite teacher Maryam Asaria and social worker Roly Hunter.

The local Barnet councillor will challenge Tory MP Mike Freer, after previous candidates Alison Moore, Sarah Sackman and Jeremy Newmark failed to unseat him in the last three elections.

In 2017, the gap between Freer and Newmark was just 1,657 votes. ‘FGG’ is regarded as a bellwether seat, but also as a particular challenge for Labour due to its large Jewish population.

The constituency was set to be abolished under the new boundary review, with its wards going to Hendon and a new ‘Hampstead’ seat. But the boundary changes haven’t yet been approved by parliament, so Labour went ahead with the selection process.

Update, September 10th: Sara Conway has stepped down as Labour’s candidate after apologising for saying antisemitism had been “weaponised”.

Congratulations to @_abbylouisee_ the next @UKLabour Parliamentary Candidate for #Aldershot pic.twitter.com/lr7m7otOIq

— Labour South East (@SELabour) March 31, 2019

Elsewhere, Abby King has been selected as the next Labour parliamentary candidate for Aldershot.

The 23-year-old Labour student and Labour Movement for Europe activist, who works for shadow transport minister Matt Rodda MP, was chosen by local members from a shortlist of five women.

In 2017, the Labour candidate Gary Puffett lost in Aldershot by a significant margin, securing 15,477 votes to the successful Tory candidate Leo Docherty’s 26,955.

There was a comparably large increase in the Labour vote at the last election, but Aldershot is a safe Conservative seat that has never been turned red.

Last year, King appeared on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show. She challenged Tory backbencher Andrew Bridgen on Brexit, producing a clip that received praise in pro-EU circles on Twitter.

I love how quietly this immense slapdown is delivered to @ABridgen and what a supremely important point it is. “You can’t have what you want” is the one concept Brexiters cannot seems to grasp. Give that woman a big hug @joannaccherry. pic.twitter.com/peOD3uwmaZ

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) December 11, 2018