Congratulations to New Statesman writer Rowenna Davis, who has just been selected as Labour’s PPC for Southampton Itchen.
I’ve known Rowenna since 2011 and have long admired her campaigning on issues such as the living wage, affordable housing and payday loans. Current MP John Denham, who is standing down in 2015, held the seat by just 192 votes in 2010 (making it the 13th most marginal in the Commons) but with a candidate as strong as Rowenna it’s one the party can be confident of retaining.
She said after her selection:
It’s an honour to succeed John Denham as Labour’s candidate for Southampton Itchen.
Too many people have told me they feel anxious about the future as a result of a heartless and incompetent government that continues to give a raw deal to this city, threatening Southampton’s proud record as a place of hope and opportunity. We urgently need to make Southampton a living wage city, attract new investment and employment, build more affordable housing and support our schools to become the leading lights of the south.
I’m looking forward to working on these issues with all residents whether they voted Labour, Conservative, UKIP or have never voted at all, to change Southampton together.
As well as serving as a councillor in Peckham, Rowenna has been a regular contributor to the NS since 2010. She’s also the author of Tangled Up In Blue, an excellent account of the birth of Blue Labour, which I reviewed back in 2011.
To get a flavour of Rowenna’s social commentary and investigative journalism, here are a few good places to start.
No “spirit of 45” for the workers at the liberal intelligentsia’s favourite cinemas (April 2013)
How food banks became mainstream: the new reality of the working poor (December 2012)
The left’s opposition to badger culls ignores the plight of our farmers (October 2012)
Spread of betting shops shows the coalition’s failure on growth (June 2012)
The silent crisis engulfing our pubs (March 2012)
Payday loans: “Don’t worry, love, they don’t need your backstory!” (December 2011)
Shadows over the rural idyll (December 2010)
Labour also held its selection in Hampstead and Kilburn today, where Camden councillor Tulip Siddiq was chosen to replace the retiring Glenda Jackson. That seat is even more marginal than Southampton Itchen, with Labour holding on by just 42 votes in 2010.
Judging by tweets from those at the selection, it appears to have been an acrimonious occasion. Camden New Journal reporter Richard Osley wrote: “All a bit heated outside the Labour selection meeting for Hampstead and Kilburn. One man reportedly headbutted in clash outside”, and the police and ambulance services were subsequently called.
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