Parachutists!

The satirical Guido Fawkes website noted that it was not only former councillor, James Asser who benefitted from the decision of Labour’s NEC to appoint several of their own members as parliamentary candidates. A fact noted by the Independent Group.

In addition to Asser, Newham has benefitted from the inclusion of Uma Kumaran in Stratford and Bow. Across the country, Mark Fergusson, Chris Ward, Gurinder Singh Josan, Michael Wheeler, Shama Tatler and Luke Akehurst have all found safe seats from which to fight the general election.

Kumaran should have an easy victory, despite being completely unknown in the area. However, she will be fighting a seat in which Labour is increasingly unpopular, (Labour lost the last two byelections in Newham and lost the whole council in Tower Hamlets). In addition, the parties on both sides of the Lea are largely inactive and ineffective. Time will tell whether the Muslim vote will split or go solidly to The Workers Party candidate; the local popularity of Aspire would suggest that Muslim voters in Tower Hamlets are likely to vote against Labour.