Labour picks its by-election candidates while selections rumble on

Good morning, and happy Bloomsday. Following selection meetings last night, Labour now has its candidates for the upcoming by-elections in Mid Bedfordshire and Selby and Ainstly. In Mid Bedfordshire, Alistair Strathern will take on the Tory candidate Festus Akinbusoye (also selected yesterday). Born and brought up in Bedfordshire, Strathern is Waltham Forest council’s cabinet lead for children and young people, and is a former teacher now doing climate policy for the Bank of England.

In Yorkshire, Keir Mather -– like Strathern, a former co-chair of Oxford University Labour Club – will fight Selby for Labour. The painfully young (read: younger than me. But honestly, I think it’s a good thing to have MPs in their 20s and the weird infantilisation of young adults serves no one but people who think we’re blowing all our money on avocados and pronouns rather than being grindingly priced out of all cultural markers of adult stability) Mather would, if elected, replace Nadia Whittome (also younger than me, if we’re doing this, hi Nadia) as the baby of the house.

Mather worked for Wes Streeting and then the CBI, and will face Conservative Michael Naughton on July 20th, hoping to overturn a Tory majority of just over 20,000. For full disclosure, Strathern is 33, which is a) older than me and b) the same age Jesus was when he died. But I’m sure the Mid-Beds by-election will be a lot less gruelling than all that, although it will likely involve more Liberal Democrats, so who is to say really.

In other selection news, it looks like we’re in for a mayor-o-geddon in the new Bristol North East seat. Marvin Rees, Bristol’s directly elected mayor, has announced his intention to seek the seat – as has Damian Egan, the directly elected mayor of Lewisham (yes that is in London, but Egan originally hails from the area he’s hoping to represent). Despite rumours that West of England mayor Dan Norris might also be eyeing the seat, Norris confirmed to LabourList that he has no intention of seeking selection there. We can nonetheless surely expect a few other names to go into the hat before the municipal socialism death race kicks off in earnest.

If you – yes, you reading this, getting crumbs on the keyboard or greasily thumbing your way through emails on this fine summer’s day – fancy your chances of Labour selection, a number of seats have just opened. You have until June 22nd to apply for Southport, Doncaster East and Axholme, and already the somewhat crowded (see above) Bristol North East. 

If you, like me, regard yourself as more of a foot soldier, a small but vital cog in the machinery of our great movement, you might prefer to just do some canvassing instead. We’re facing by-elections in four seats – Selby, Mid Beds, Uxbridge, and Margaret Ferrier’s Rutherglen seat – and you can find details of this weekend’s sessions in those seats here.

All is not well in the world of mayors and selection, however: the row over Jamie Driscoll’s run (or not) for North East mayor is still dragging on, with the most recent development being a letter to the party written by trade union leaders, calling Driscoll’s exclusion from the longlist a “massive own goal”.

Also unhappy with the Labour Party are social workers. The general secretary of the Social Workers’ Union John McGowan and the chair of the British Association of Social Workers Ruth Allen have written to the party, calling for reform to bursaries for social work students to be adopted as party policy- they say they are “disappointed” about the lack of response they have had thus far.

Lastly, it was announced yesterday that the Oscar winning actress and long serving Labour MP Glenda Jackson had passed away at the age of 87. Tributes to a life well lived were led by Keir Starmer, who said she played many roles with “great distinction, passion and commitment”.