James Murray selected as Labour’s candidate in Ealing North

Unite-backed James Murray has been selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the safe Labour seat of Ealing North, and will replace retiring incumbent Steve Pound.

The deputy mayor of London for housing beat fellow deputy mayor Rajesh Agrawal and local councillor Aysha Raza to win the battle that concluded on Friday evening.

As the leadership’s preferred candidate and a proven advocate of left-wing housing policy, Murray was expected to win the race and did so on the first round of voting.

In his campaign video, Murray talked about rent control and facing down developers who opposed Sadiq Khan’s decision to award him the housing brief.

Considered to be ‘soft left’, the new parliamentary candidate is friends with Jeremy Corbyn – having served as an Islington councillor before working in City Hall – and grew up in Ealing.

Sitarah Anjum, another local councillor, had also been shortlisted in the race but was later removed after concerns were raised about allegedly homophobic tweets and posts that appeared to criticise banning forced marriages.