Local Labour Party branch selection meeting

Last night I went to my local Labour Party branch meeting to vote on who will be the Labour Party’s council candidates in my ward in the elections next May.  The ward I live in is now held by the Liberal Democrats with a substantial majority (although twenty years ago, it was one of the safest Labour areas in the Borough).  As a result, my branch is timetabled to select towards the end of the selection process, giving Labour-held wards and those which are more marginal than mine an opportunity to choose their candidates from the panel of approved candidates earlier.

I therefore approached the meeting with some trepidation, as in previous selection rounds those branches selecting at the end of the cycle have often had a less than impressive range of people to consider.  I was therefore pleasantly surprised with the potential candidates we interviewed last night.  All of them would have made extremely good election candidates and – even more importantly – would have made excellent councillors.  Indeed, trying to decide between them was difficult – I would happily have supported any of them.

Anyway, at the end of the meeting the members present voted and three successful candidates emerged and it is without reservations that I wish Ali, Joanne and John every success in their campaign over the next eight months.