Makes some of the speculation http://parburypolitica.blogspot.com/2007/01/selection-gossip-part-two.html
here seem quite prophetic
Still they could have thrown a bone at the members and made it longer than 2
 

Trouble is the 3rd or 4th might have got selected! Clearly they should have risked all and pushed a Deshi Muslim Woman to the head of the queue ... but how would that have gone down?

I have not been quite so shy as Will over at mine.
 

Will, what you write may or may not be true: the problem with it is that you and the NEC evidently share the patronising, paternalistic attitude that the local members would be incapable of seeing the same problems with other candidates that you have.

If there are specific allegations against a particular candidate, then for a by-election in particular don't put them on the shortlist, but is it really for you to say that Sonika Nirwal is unfit to be an MP at this time?

Had Piara Khabra not died, she'd have almost certainly been Labour's general election candidate - and no one would have dissented. So what you're actually arguing is that she is unfit to be a by-election candidate.

I'm interested in why you believe either of the two short-listees is so much more eminently qualified for the rigours of a by-election campaign than Sonika?
 

Dear Anon you can call me patronising and paternalistic if I can call you ignorant.

Sonika would know why she wasn't put on the shortlist and it is up to her if she wants to discuss that in more detail. I'm not going to do so here.

Given the speed of the process it would have been extremely difficult for members in the constituency to be fully appraised. Though I suspect that many of them know anyway but may not realise the full implications of the information as the NEC would do.

I agree with you that she would a) make a really good MP b) would have won an AWS selection at the general election. But sometimes the cookie crumbles not the way particular candidates would like. Ask guys who have had a constituency they have been working made an AWS.

Sometimes shit happens. But she is a bright women so she should have had a greater perception of the weaknesses in her candidature at this juncture. That is not to say that in the future she would be a very good candidate and indeed she will I hope sit on the green benches in the near future. But the NEC were dead right to do what they did.

If I had been running it it would have remained an AWS but whoever the party select i'm sure that they will do a much better job than the opposition so they have my full support.
 

Apparently Virendra Sharma has been selected (unconfirmed rumour)
 

Wouldn't surprise me apparently the old hands who have worked this seat compete in the number of minibuses they have to use to get their supporters to vote.
 

WIt's little wonder we're "ignorant" when the likes of you go round claiming "I know something you don't know" - either put up or shut up, with respect Will.

I've no doubt that Sonika would find a by-election challenging - any candidate would. However, that is as true for the two shortlistees as it is for her - two people who wouldn't have had a look in for this seat if Piara hadn't passed away.

So until you can come up with a single reason (let alone a substantive one) why these two men are infinitely better qualified for the rigours of a by-election than Sonika (and that's an opportunity to promote the shortlistees, not slate Sonika before you use that as an excuse to say nothing much of anything) then I guess we're going to go on being ignorant, outraged and believing that the best outcome for Labour in Southall would now be to lose it and get a decent candidate at the next general election.
 

Why don't you go and ask Sonika why the NEC didn't put her on the shortlist if your so interested.

They don't go dumping ideal candidates by accident.
 

You're evidently incapable of engaging in sensible debate Will. Even when I ask you to say something positive about the candidates who were shortlisted, your preference is to insinuate that there's something intrinsically wrong with someone who was not.

That's nothing more than cowardly - so I repeat: either put up, or shut up and stop smearing people by inference.
 

Most people in sensible debate actually say who they are rather than post anonymously.

But anyway...


I am not smearing anyone at all in any way shape or form.

My message is that you should trust the NEC because they made the right decision with the evidence that they had available.

It is also the right decision for Sonika who will no doubt go on to bigger and better things in the future.

For all I know you might be a lib dem... So pardon me for not sharing .
 

To Anon at 3:12pm who says that Virendra Sharma has been selected. Voting is until 8 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church, Southall.
 

In a nutshell: Sonika has a family address in Southall but normally goes home to an address in Harrow. It was felt that this would be too much to manage in the glare of a by-election. We all know what the Lib Dems are like when it comes to being local - except of course when selecting someone a 50-minute car ride away in Sedgefield.

No-one seems as interested in why the local bearded Sikh in chief was not favoured. That's a much better narrative than Sonika simply being a bit unlucky that this was a by-election.

I'd have picked Rupa, me.
 

It'd definatly true, Sonika claims she lives in Southall and owns a property here. In fact the property in her name is her parents and she lives in harrow with her husband. She lied about this to the Labour Party and was told a night before the interview process to withdraw or be prepared to failed in the interview. Rumour has it due to her that if this story was leaked it would and could be damaging to Sonika's career and the labour party. She has mislead the public and is a liar, she should resign as a Councillor.
Inside info is that Sonika did not perform very well in the interview