Sam Tarry prepares to challenge his defeat in the Ilford South grudge match

Labour Twitter was abuzz late into the evening on Monday as observers awaited the outcome of Sam Tarry’s reselection battle in Ilford South. The incumbent MP faced off against leader of Redbridge council Jas Athwal, in a rematch of what would have been in 2019 had Athwal not been suspended from the party the evening before the selection meeting over a sexual harassment complaint. The results came in shortly before 10:30pm: local members had voted to deselect Tarry in favour of Athwal. The council leader reportedly received 499 votes to Tarry’s 361.

Tarry said in a statement this morning that he is “utterly crestfallen” at the result, not for himself “but for the good people of Ilford who deserve better than to have been at the centre of a manufactured political circus”. He declared that he is “extremely concerned” about the outcome, arguing that it did not “reflect the feeling my campaigners met on the ground” or the “meticulous data we gathered on the campaign”. He said he is “taking some time to consider what’s next” and has asked the party to share with him the “full information of who cast electronic votes, by what method and when they were cast”.

Athwal’s supporters have heralded his victory as the righting of a historic wrong. His suspension in 2019 was described at the time as an “undemocratic stitch-up” by Wes Streeting, MP for neighbouring Ilford North and a key ally of Athwal. The council leader was cleared of wrongdoing by Labour’s national constitutional committee after a year-long suspension. Commenting following his reinstatement, Athwal said the complainant was “someone with a political axe to grind”. Tarry argued that claims of a stitch-up were “farcical” and “insulting” to the alleged victim.

The selection process this time round was not without controversy. Tarry alleged that there had been incidents of voter fraud during the trigger ballot process – though his complaint was dismissed by Labour’s general secretary David Evans as an “isolated incident”. Nevertheless, Tarry instructed his supporters to boycott the branch nomination meetings, saying he had “no faith” that the meetings would be carried out fairly. On the broadcast round this morning, Pat McFadden suggested that Tarry would not have the support of the Labour frontbench if the former shadow transport minister decided to challenge his deselection. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury stressed that the selection result was a “decision for the party members in Ilford”, adding: “They clearly thought Jas Athwal would be a better candidate next time.”

Attempts to blame Tarry’s deselection on Keir Starmer are unfair – don’t forget that the Labour leader backed a rule change at conference last year to make it harder for sitting MPs to be triggered. But the result has the potential to exacerbate existing tensions within Labour around selections. MPs on the left of the party were vocal in their support for Tarry, and the MP had extensive support within the wider labour movement, including endorsements from Unite, ASLEF, the CWU and the GMB. Earlier in the selection process, Tarry argued that there is a “clear pattern of factional elements of the party machine targeting socialist and trade union backed candidates”. Don’t look away from Ilford South just yet, because things could be about to get even uglier.