Sorting Out the Runners for the West Ham and Beckton Steeplechase

There seems to be some dispute emerging from Labour’s ranks in Newham. Some are adamant that the NEC will be making the decision, but candidates are telling anyone who will listen that the NEC has decided that the members will have a role in the decision. 

A reasonable question has been raised, “why is it that West Ham and Beckton will have member involvement when East Ham and Stratford won’t?”

The short answer is clearly that the Labour Party does not want either of the two sitting candidates to be disturbed this side of the election. In five years’ time, things might be very different.

Here are the results of our early soundings. Some of it comes from the horse’s mouth, as it were, some of it is our conjecture.

Amina Ali. Currently a councillor and Deputy Leader of the Labour Group in Tower Hamlets, Ali is known to want the Beckton seat. She was previously adopted as the candidate in Bradford West to fight the seat held by Respect. Then she resigned it. She cited the ‘disruption’ campaigning in Bradford would have to her family life, (apparently, she only learned that months of campaigning would disrupt her family life after being selected). Others suggested that the fratricidal nature of the Bradford Labour Party was the real reason she bailed out of Bradford. She lost out in the battle to replace Jim Fitzpatrick. She is now poised to throw her hat into the ring for West Ham and Beckton. She was previously a fan of Jeremy Corbyn, though we suspect that she has now deleted that from her CV.

James Asser. A councillor in his second term, he was elevated very quickly to Number 2 in the Fiaz administration. He sits on Labour’s NEC and is expected to take over the chair later this year. On the NEC he is seen as one of the forces of moderation. Locally, he is carrying the baggage of unpopular policies, (residential parking fees), poor delivery (fly-tipping and litter), a reputation for oppressive behaviour, (the failed prosecution of City Farm staff), and poor community relations, (closing the City Farm and seen as the reason Beckton candidates lost 300-500 votes between 2018 and 2022).

Ayesha Chowdhury. A long-odds bet who has yet to declare, Chowdhury was a front bencher under Wales, this popular local councillor was ousted from the council by Fiaz, with Asser being seen as the main architect of her removal. Quietly spoken, with decades of community work behind her, she has an extensive network of contacts in the CLP, particularly within the Bengali community. She and her husband have grown a substantial property portfolio. This may be held against her.

Abdul Hai OBE. A seemingly vacuous individual with a list of organisations he has been a part of. A former councillor in Camden with a penchant for overstating his own importance. Nonetheless, he’s a Bengali and he has been making considerable efforts to make contact with the sizeable Bengali membership of the constituency party. Word is that he has the personal support of Mayor Fiaz, poor fellow.

Charlene McLean. Her working life seems to have consisted of being a parliamentary assistant to an MP or two. Then being a councillor. And then, err…, nothing so far as we can see. As the Chair of West Ham CLP, she managed to wield the knife in the campaign to get Fiaz selected. This resulted in a swift promotion. And an equally swift demotion when her abilities (or lack thereof) became evident. She recently failed to get selected as a Westminster candidate in Croydon. Quite what she would bring to the role is anybody’s guess.

Carlene Lee-Phakoe. Another councillor in her second term. She has served on the front bench under Fiaz, whilst her husband has been seen as a key member of the internal opposition. She and Fiaz had a major difference of opinion with regard to how to deal with prostitution. Suffice to say that Lee-Phakoe preferred a policy that would have been more popular with residents. Like Terry Paul, though capable, she is better known in the north of the borough. There is the additional elephant in the room, whether large numbers of Bengali members will vote for a Black candidate when there are Bengali candidates on offer, but of course, it is a dreadful trope to suggest that members will vote along ethnic or religious lines.

 Terry Paul. A veteran councillor amongst the contenders, a cabinet member under Wales, and then under Fiaz, (but that didn’t last long). He is 50% of a cross complaint that is supposedly under review by the Standards Commission. He and Fiaz have lodged complaints against one another. Some of the unsubstantiated gossip is that Fiaz is delaying the work of the Standards Commission in order to have some dirt on Paul, to use around the time of the selections. As a candidate, Paul must be one of the stronger ones, but his personal support is in the north of the borough. Possibly the strongest of the local candidates. Ability, however, won’t necessarily translate into votes.