Paul Goggins, former MP for the safe Labour seat of Wythenshawe and Sale East, was buried three days ago, tragically dying a few days after collapsing whilst out jogging. Today at 9am, applications opened for his successor with an announcement on Labour’s Membersnet. The deadline for applications at 10am tomorrow, longlisting on Wednesday and all over by Friday, eight days after the selection. Precious little time for potential candidates to consider putting themselves forward (or even to find out about the deadline). No time for members to get to know the candidates. Unsurprisingly, LabourList describes it as a “shot-gun selection”.
What possible reason could there be for such indecent haste? Surely not because, as we understand is the case, the leadership has already decided to back Mike Kane, former adviser to Blairite Cabinet minister, James Purnell. After Purnell left Parliament in 2010, Kane went on to work for his successor, Jonny Reynolds MP, now vice-chair of Progress and himself the beneficiary of a shortlist stitch-up thanks to the intervention of Purnell and Lord Mandelson, and then for the Leader of Tameside Council. Continue reading
Earlier today we published an article by Kate Hudson, Respect candidate in the Manchester Central by-election, entitled The unrepresented working class: a space Respect can fill! (now available 
Kate Hudson, who has lead the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament since 2003 as Chair and then General Secretary, has been selected as candidate for Respect in the Manchester Central by-election expected on 15 November. The by-election is caused by the decision of Tony Lloyd to stand as Labour candidate for Police Commissioner of Greater Manchester. There is no record of Respect (or other left-of-Labour) success in the constituency — but nor was there in Bradford West. Manchester Central has the twelfth highest unemployment in the UK (Bradford West is fifth), a place where Labour’s core vote has voted with its feet in recent years — a place where Labour has no grounds for complacency. 
It is not every day that Westminster witnesses a sensational by-election victory, driven by an unshakeably anti-imperialist appeal to a minority religious community, but combined with an unfashionably leftwing socialist subtext. No wonder most of the pundits were nonplussed.
In the wee small hours following the Barnsley Central by-election this question was asked of me on Twitter. It seems a reasonable question. After all, capitalism is in far from in rude health and I suspect there are elements of the story the left tells about it that would find a receptive audience. Tales of greedy, wealth-hoarding bankers and the problems they cause for ordinary, hard-working people wouldn’t meet much widespread objection. Maybe they would even be willing to listen to how this system can no longer provide for them, what they need to survive and also their hopes and dreams and to explore alternatives. Maybe. However, last night saw the far-right largely in the form of UKIP as the chief benefactors of discontent with this government.