well, more than one actually. A Reading West member who voted in the selection of Nasty Naz is unhappy that the selection meeting (which he confirms was "packed" in the old-fashioned, smoke-filled room sense) was not told that Mr Sarkar was educated at Dulwich College and Winchester. He says that while he personally would not have changed his vote if he had known, he knows others who would, and that he would like the selection rerun as he feels the members were misled, the more so as it has now emerged that Mr Sarkar misled (his word) both the members and the public by telling them he was working as a teacher when he was not. Another Reading West member describes herself as an "old-fashioned class warrior" and says she "had no idea" that they were selecting a public schoolboy, and would "certainly not" have supported Mr Sarkar if she had known. She too would like the selection contest rerun, but has been told that Mr Malcolm Powers, as the regional party official responsible for these matters, will have none of it - methinks Mr Powers has a conflict of interest as he is currently an election candidate himself in Reading, and as such (take it from one who knows) is expected to take orders on all Reading election matters from Mr Salter and a small group of men.
It is interesting too that these party members (and presumably others too) say it "never occurred" to them that Mr Sarkar was a public schoolboy. Why? Even in Billy Bunter's time Asian boys were allowed into the public schools of England. Asian people, or "Stanis" as Mr Salter has been heard by me to call them on many occasions, are supposed to live on benefits in crumbling houses in Newtown, to know their place and to vote as instructed in selection and election meetings.
Welcome to the 21st century, boys. Ah me, where are the old certainties?
16 comments:
I'm not surprised by any of this. His selection was a joke and it is backfiring big time. The Labour party in Reading is finished, come May the town will probably have two tory MPs and Labour reduced to holding only the rock-solid working class areas on the council. Totally inept. I think I commented somewhere at the time of Naz's selection that the party were pressing the self-destruction button. I couldn't fathom why they had selected him, not least over Mark Bennett. Now we know - the membership were duped.
You won't heart anything on this from the Reading Tories as they know when they have a dud opponent. As far as they're concerned the longer Naz is the candidate the more likely it is that Alok will be the next MP for Reading West.
Mind you, they're not alone in that as Salter can then portray himself as the greatest Reading MP ever, oh he already has you say...........
And when has Powers,when confronted by Salter,ever shown an inkling of independence of either action or thought?
Bye the bye I hear that some Reading based jesters are planning a bit of a jape come election time.It seems that they are planning on calling on the good folk of Church Ward to ask Powers to show them his 'three tits'when he comes a doorstepping..in exchange for their vote..get them out for the party..get them out...
http://www1.walthamforest.gov.uk/moderngov/mgFindCouncillor.asp?XXR=0&AC=CLLR&CL=483
Is it really credible to think that the Party didn't get from the candidate a full personal history? And do a CRB check? And the new whatever-it-is check? And tell the meeting all of that?
So why isn't this making it into the local press? Obviously not His Master's Voice, but the Chronicle?
Funny how receiving a good education is a sin in Labour's parallel universe.
Education, education education (as long as it's not privately funded).
There are many reasons not to want this candidate to succeed, but his parents' choice of school for him isn't one of them.
I am sure this blog revealed that Naz went to public school before the selection meeting. Some of the other candidates may also have gone to them. Don't forget Gaitskell, Michael Foot and Tony Blair, and probably Attlee, were also public schoolboys.
Naz won because he connected with the members. I think 2 others on the shortlist were the ones favoured by the leadership.
Naz (many times) and most of the other candidates visited the members. Mark B (who impressed at the Coley event) did not visit or ring members - he just sent two letters asking for help. That was why he got very few wards choosing him.
Naz is the best candidate for a Labour defeat. Long may he reign.
Back Jane Griffiths in 2015 for Reading West.
Well, good on her if she feels like going for it.
However, as Jane Kennedy (aka Sporty Spice) said - you get too old to live in a barracks with unsuitable fellow inmates.
'Some Reading -based jesters..'I wonder...I wonder who on earth they might be..surely not..no it can't be true can it..?My only advice to you Mr Powers is to be careful..very careful indeed..
There is an outright lie in the comment of the 12th November about Mark Bennett’s campaign in Reading West. The fact that it has been posted anonymously merely underlines its status as an untruth. I know Mark very well and helped him with his campaign, driving him around from doorstep to doorstep in Reading and helping him with ringing members to make appointments. He was also helped by other friends and by his family in Reading, including his dad who was very ill at the time. As a fellow Lambeth Labour councillor, I know how demanding his cabinet portfolio (community safety) can be and he kept up that full-time activity in Lambeth, as well as his ward work in Streatham. He was nominated in Battle and Southcote wards in the open category – which is the only one of the three categories that is available for white men under the rules. The fact that Mark was nominated in Battle in preference to Paul Gitting seems to have sparked the extraordinary whisper campaign against him – that he was not local (which he is), that he was gay (so what), that he was a Blairite spin doctor (no actually) or a parachute candidate (no, which is why he asked friends and family for help). In my opinion, Reading West doesn’t deserve candidates of Mark’s calibre and reputation if they are going to trash them like that. We are lucky to have him in Lambeth.
thanks Imogen, I hoped publishing the anonymous one of the boys would bring out the truth.
Imogen, I concur with your comments rebutting the remarks of 12th Nov. I too helped (in a very minor way) with Mark's campaign for Reading West and know for a certain fact he spent many days going from ward to ward, street by street, visiting everyone who was keen to meet him (and there were many), as well as speaking to voters by phone day and night. I made appointments for him to visit people in all the wards.
It's sad that he wasn't selected - I believe he would have won the seat.
Yeah - well Reading East didn't deserve Jane Griffiths either.
And lots of other CLPs didn't deserve their excellent Labour MPs or PPCs or potential candidates whom they trashed and continue to trash to cover up their own deficiencies.
It is a nasty party, actually, period.
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