"Appalling cull": British Labour prevents another left-wing candidate from running for office

May 30, 2024

Prominent left-winger Faiza Shaheen has been disqualified by the British Labour Party from running in the next election due to allegations that she liked comments on social media that cast doubt on her eligibility, most notably one that purportedly downplayed anti-Semitism.

Shaheen said on Wednesday on the BBC program Newsnight that she had received an email that evening from the party's National Executive Committee asking her to withdraw from consideration for the northeast London seat of Chingford and Woodford Green after they had previously questioned her on fourteen social media posts.

One such post that made reference to a Jon Stewart comedy on freedom of expression in relation to the Israel-Palestine issue was featured on the show.

Shaheen had expressed her liking for the post, which led the Jewish Labour Movement to express worry in an on-air comment that its members were "concerned" about the "tone" of the Labour candidate's social media posts.

The offending post, published on X, read: “Every time you say something even mildly critical of Israel, you’re immediately assailed by scores of hysterical people who explain to you why you’re completely wrong, how you’re biased against Israel.”

“Moreover, you can’t easily ignore them because those are not just random people. They tend to be friends or people who move in the same circles as you. Those people are mobilised by professional organisations,” it added.

Shaheen responded that she could not remember liking the post.

“I know what’s wrong with it, the line that’s there about the … you know … they’re ‘in professional organisations’. It plays into a trope, and I absolutely don’t agree with that and I’m sorry about that,” Shaheen said.

She said that after informing the media, the party had notified her that she had been deselected. The party had also objected to material in her fourteen social media posts that discussed her encounters with Islamophobia within the party.

“Like, how am I not allowed to talk about my experiences of Islamophobia and the double standards that I’ve seen?” she said.

The Labour Muslim Network said on X that Shaheen’s deselection was “unacceptable”.

The internal turmoil surrounding Labour's selection process for the July 4 election has overshadowed the party's election campaign, raising concerns among observers about potential left-wing purges.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the Brighton Kemptown representative, was suspended on Wednesday due to what he described as a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint”.

Additionally, questions have been raised regarding Apsana Begum's candidacy. She is expected to run once more for the Poplar and Limehouse district.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Diane Abbott, the Labour Party's Diane Abbott, the country's first Black female MP, denounced Keir Starmer's "appalling" purge of left-wingers.

Abbott stated on Wednesday that she was denied permission by Labour to run for her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seats in the election, even though she had lifted a ban that had been put in place because of remarks she had made about racism the previous year.

Following the conclusion of a party inquiry over remarks she had made in a letter to The Observer newspaper, the legislator was restored as a Labour MP on Tuesday. She had remarked that while Jews, Irish, and Travelers "undoubtedly experience prejudice," they do not encounter racism "all their lives."

Later on, though, Labour leader Keir Starmer refuted the accusation, stating that "no decision" had been made to exclude the left-winger, who served as Jeremy Corbyn's close ally and headed the party from 2015 to 2020. 

The equalities watchdog looked into the party during Corbyn's leadership and discovered significant shortcomings in the way the party had addressed anti-Semitism.

Keir Starmer took over as party leader from Corbyn and has attempted to rein in the alleged anti-Semitism.

Additionally, Corbyn is not allowed to run for office as a Labour candidate because of his comments that the party's anti-Semitism has been "dramatically overstated" for political purposes.

He said last week that he will run as an independent.