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Labour cancels Croydon selection after voting fraud claims
Posted on November 23, 2023 by insidecroydon
Party members were told this afternoon: ‘As a result of complaints… that require investigation, the selection process in Croydon East has been paused with immediate effect’. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
On hold: parliamentary selection candidate Joel Bodmer with Labour colleague, and Anonyvoter supplier, Maddie Henson
Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has this afternoon been forced to cancel Saturday’s parliamentary selection showdown for the new Croydon East constituency.
According to one veteran Labour Party official, “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
Inside Croydon has been reporting for months serious and mounting concerns about deliberate attempts by some party officials to favour one particular candidate over all others, as Labour’s London Region imposed officers on the new CLP – Constituency Labour Party – without any membership vote, and excluded members from the shortlisting process altogether.
Anyone nominated to be Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Croydon East ahead of the next General Election is likely to become the area’s MP and have a job for life.
This morning, veteran politics journalist Michael Crick tweeted a thread making a series of shocking allegations of “suspected fraud” and “allegations of large-scale tampering with membership lists” in Croydon East’s selection.
“Several complaints already made to Labour national and London region HQs, especially over use of online votes,” Crick revealed.
Inside Croydon has previously reported how one candidate, Joel “Bodger” Bodmer, had been given access to the supposedly confidential CLP membership list even before the selection process was declared open, in a clear breach of the rules.
Croydon East Labour members have meanwhile related suspicious delays and inconsistencies with the way access to the Anonyvoter remote voting system had been handled.
One resident has also told of how their whole family was approached by one of the shortlisted candidates and encouraged to attend the final selection meeting, being assured that their membership fees would be paid to enable them to vote – even though Labour rules dictate that no one can participate in selection votes if they have not been a party member for at least six months.
Card tricks: some former Labour members were approached and encouraged to take part in the Croydon East selection
What’s more, the resident who was approached by the Labour parliamentary hopeful is actually a member of the Conservative Party.
This afternoon, some Croydon East members – though not all – received a brief and blunt note from an anonymous official at Labour’s London region head office.
“Dear Members,” it says.
“We are writing to inform you that as a result of complaints received by the party that require investigation, the selection process in Croydon East has been paused with immediate effect.
“This means that the hustings meeting due to take place on Saturday has been cancelled and any votes already cast have been voided.
“We will be in touch with further information in due course following the conclusion of our investigation.”
“This is what comes of handing the running of a selection to unelected officers who, by definition, are not trusted by members. Any process not subject to scrutiny is liable to corruption,” said one angry Croydon East member, and iC contributor, Ken Towl. Ctd....
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