Sam Tarry wins Ilford South selection to replace Mike Gapes

Sam Tarry has won Labour’s Ilford South parliamentary selection contest and will replace Mike Gapes as the candidate at the next general election.

The TSSA officer and president of CLASS think tank who worked on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaigns had significant backing from the labour movement, with endorsements from GMB, Unite, TSSA, CWU, BFAWU, ASLEF and Musicians’ Union.

He was also supported by Corbynite network Momentum and key leadership figure John McDonnell, as well as Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and other senior Labour MPs.

His campaign was run jointly by GMB and Momentum, with GMB officer Tom Warnett, Sam Green – the Labour Against Racism And Fascism activist considered to be a rising star on the left – and others organising a strong operation on the ground.

Tarry won on the first round of voting on Tuesday evening against Kam Rai – the Redbridge Council deputy leader favoured by Corbynsceptics – as well as Syeda Rahim, Neeraj Patil and Rajni Chodha.

The selection contest was a particularly controversial one. It was paused and applications were reopened after originally shortlisted applicant Jas Athwal – the local council leader – was suspended from the party pending investigation of a complaint related to sexual harassment.