Editor’s note: This interview was originally published on 3 June 2023. It was updated on 30 May 2024 after Faiza Shaheen told BBC Newsnight that she had been blocked from standing as Labour’s candidate in Chingford and Woodford Green. The decision was made following a meeting with a panel of Labour’s National Executive Committee on 29 May regarding a series of tweets she liked that allegedly “downplayed antisemitism accusations”. In the interview below, Shaheen details her 2019 election campaign in which she exceeded Labour’s national performance and nearly ousted the sitting Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith.
At the 2019 general election Faiza Shaheen came within 1,262 votes of a “Portillo moment”. The Labour left-winger had made it her mission to oust the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith in Chingford and Woodford Green – her home constituency – but fell just short.
Content from our partners
