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| Only nine Unite-backed candidates have won Labour nominations | Only nine Unite-backed candidates have won Labour nominations |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Unite's approved candidates have won Labour nominations in only nine out of 22 constituencies where contests have been held – so far suggesting that the endorsement of Len McCluskey's union is far from an automatic passport to parliament. The union's political committees endorsed 41 candidates, mainly in Labour's winnable target seats. Not all the candidates are Unite members, and some would challenge claims they even follow or share Unite politics. Contests for the remaining 19 seats in which Unite has an endorsed candidate standing have yet to conclude. | |
| Unite's stated desire to make the Labour party more working class was also brought into question when it emerged that 14 of the 41 Unite-backed candidates in parliamentary selections are full-time officials, five have a legal background, including a QC, a partner and a director, and four work full time in executive positions for a council. | |
| Others include the former deputy head of Ken Livingstone's press operation in 2012. The list also includes lobbyists, a PR consultant, a management consultant, a former TV presenter, a former House of Commons & Lords parliamentary assistant – now a lobbyist – a Company director, and a Labour party official. | |
| McCluskey has repeatedly said his union is seeking to increase the number of working class MPs in the parliamentary Labour party. He wrote in the Sunday Mirror at the weekend: "Parliament is increasingly the preserve of an out-of-touch elite – Oxbridge-educated special advisers who glide from university to thinktank to the green benches without ever sniffing the air of the real world. That is what Unite is trying to change." | McCluskey has repeatedly said his union is seeking to increase the number of working class MPs in the parliamentary Labour party. He wrote in the Sunday Mirror at the weekend: "Parliament is increasingly the preserve of an out-of-touch elite – Oxbridge-educated special advisers who glide from university to thinktank to the green benches without ever sniffing the air of the real world. That is what Unite is trying to change." |
| His critics, including the former Labour MP for Falkirk Eric Joyce, claim this argument is bogus. He said at the weekend: "The people that Unite want to put into those seats are of course, guess what? Parliamentary researchers, middle class union officials and exactly the same type. The reality is this is an ideological fight. It's not between the trade unions and Ed Miliband, it's between Len McCluskey and a few of his anarcho-syndicalist advisers and the Labour party". | His critics, including the former Labour MP for Falkirk Eric Joyce, claim this argument is bogus. He said at the weekend: "The people that Unite want to put into those seats are of course, guess what? Parliamentary researchers, middle class union officials and exactly the same type. The reality is this is an ideological fight. It's not between the trade unions and Ed Miliband, it's between Len McCluskey and a few of his anarcho-syndicalist advisers and the Labour party". |
| This is the fate of the Unite 41 in selections so far. | |
| Candidates who won a Labour nomination: 9 /> /> | |
| Lewisham Deptford Vicky Foxcroft; Hornsey & Wood Green Catherine West; City of Chester Chris Matheson; Brighton Kemptown Nancy Platts; Plymouth, Sutton & Devonport Luke Pollard; Halesowen & Rowley Regis Steph Peacock; N Warwickshire Mike O'Brien; Wolverhampton SW Rob Marris; Stourbridge Pete Lowe | |
| />Candidates who did not: 13 | |
| Bermondsey and Old Southwark Gavin Edwards; Enfield N Annajoy David; Bury N Jane Lewis; Manchester Withington Angela Rayner; Warrington S Sharon Connor; Weaver Vale Rebecca Long-Bailey; Wirral W Christine Spriggs; Hove Simon Burgess; Bristol S Amanda Ramsay; Birmingham Yardley Eleanor Smith; Nuneaton Miriam O'Reilly; Sheffield Hallam Martin Mayer; Stockton S Linda Hughes | |
| />Nominations yet to be completed: 19 | |
| Ilford North: Mike Hedges – not started Finchley & Golders Green: Alon Or-bach – applications close 8 July; hustings 1 September 2013 Brent Central : Kate Osamor – not started Lancaster & Fleetwood: Cat Smith – shortlisted; Hustings 26 July Burnley: Julie Cooper – shortlisted; hustings 26 July Pendle: Azhar Ali – applications close 22 July; hustings 15 September Blackpool North & Cleveleys: Chris Webb – hustings 27 July Kingswood: Rowenna Hayward – hustings 13 July Dudley South: Natasha Millward – shortlisted; hustings 14 July East Midlands Sherwood: Lachlan Morrison – shortlisted Amber Valley: Julia Long – shortlisted; hustings 27 July. | |
| Cleethorpes: Ian Gent – not started Pudsey: Jamie Hanley – applications close 14 July; hustings 8 September Elmet & Rothwell: Veronica King – applications close 14 July; hustings 8 September Dewsbury: Paula Sherriff – not started; all-women shortlist Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale: Archie Dryburgh – not started; open shortlist East Dunbartonshire: Alan Moir– applications close 22 July; hustings 2 September. | |
| Falkirk: Karie Murphy (was Unite candidate, now debarred)– not started Cardiff Central: Jo Stevens – shortlisted; hustings 13 July. | |