Labour divisions have erupted again after Jas Athwal beat the sitting MP, Sam Tarry, in the selection race to be the party’s candidate in Ilford South at the next general election. Athwal, the leader of London’s Redbridge Borough Council, won a vote of local members last night (10 October) after a fraught campaign. The battle was a mixture of the personal and political, and goes to the heart of the divisions in Keir Starmer’s party. Tarry will remain as MP until the next general election, which is expected to be in 2024.
Firstly, the personal. The win is a triumph for Athwal after he was suspended as a Labour member over a complaint of sexual harassment the night before the selection contest in 2019, which Tarry won. Athwal believed the complaint was malicious, and was cleared of all allegations against him in 2020 then reinstated as a member. He described the year spent clearing his name as “torture” and told the Guardian that he contemplated suicide.
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