Faiza Shaheen blocked as Labour Election candidate after social media posts
Former Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen has been ditched as a candidate after allegedly liking a series of social media posts downplaying anti-Semitism.
Ms Shaheen had been preparing to challenge Tory veteran Sir Iain Duncan Smith in Chingford and Wood Green, north east London. The left-winger narrowly lost to Sir Iain in 2019. But it emerged yesterday that she has not been endorsed by Labour as their candidate. It followed reports that she had liked a post about “anti-Semitism accusations” from the “hysterical” Israel lobby.
It comes amid a row over Labour’s candidate selections, which has led to furious backlash over the future of veteran MP Diane Abbott. The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP has said she wanted to fight to retain her seat “as long as it is possible” but it is unclear whether Labour will allow her to stand.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who was MP for Brighton Kemptown, said he has been suspended by Labour over what he called a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” against him, and that he cannot stand under the Labour banner at the election. In response, Ms Abbott said: “Appalling. Whose clever idea has it been to have a cull of left wingers?”
Ms Shaheen told BBC Newsnight she “thought” she was going to be the candidate for the constituency, but got an email on Wednesday evening that she said claimed she would “frustrate Labour’s purpose”. She was summoned to a meeting with a panel of Labour’s National Executive Committee on Tuesday in which they highlighted these posts.
One said: “Every time you say something even mildly critical of Israel, you’re immediately assailed by scores of hysterical people who explain to you why you’re completely wrong, how you’re biased against Israel. Moreover, you can’t easily ignore them because those are not just random people. They tend to be friends or people who move in the same circles as you. Those people are mobilised by professional organisations.”
Ms Shaheen said she does not remember liking the post in question, adding: “I know what’s wrong with it, of course, the line that’s there about ‘they’re in professional organisations’, it plays into a trope and I absolutely don’t agree with that and I’m sorry about that.
“And I expressed that I was sorry in that meeting yesterday over my crying baby but that’s one tweet. I’ve organised an interfaith vigil with a local Rabbi after the attacks, Hamas’s attack.”
She went on: “I feel foolish. Because everyone said I was the one socialist that was running, you know, it was a surprise that I wasn’t blocked earlier, everyone knows that. And of course they were going to come for me and I did something stupid and honestly I don’t remember liking that (tweet).”
Ms Shaheen also said she was in a “state of shock” and offered an emotional apology to her supporters. Asked what she wants to say to Keir Starmer, she referenced Diane Abbott, whose future as Labour’s candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington is in doubt.
Ms Shaheen said: “On top of Gaza, on top of Diane Abbott and now this to me, when there’s such clear double standards of how other people have been treated when stuff has happened… what message are you sending my community? What message are you sending the black community?” She later tweeted that “this is not the end of my story”, triggering speculation that she might run as an independent candidate.
The Labour Muslim Network said the treatment of Ms Shaheen was “unacceptable”. But Shadow Cabinet minister Darren Jones denied there had been a “purge” of the left, telling Times Radio: “I don’t think that’s true. I mean, there are many colleagues of mine in the Parliamentary Labour Party who would define themselves as being on the left who are endorsed Labour Party candidates standing in their constituency.”
