In “Refounding Labour”, one little-noticed clause deleted almost all the rulebook said about selection procedures for parliamentary candidates.
Now, in Thurrock, a marginal constituency in Essex, a small selection committee has completely bypassed all nomination procedures, and declared a shortlist of two (one an apparatchik from Ed Miliband’s office, both parachuted in without any connection to the local labour movement). Local Labour Party members get a say only in a vote-out between those two, on 3 December.
Labour Parties and affiliated unions round the country should bombard Labour HQ with protests.