Labour’s national executive met today with a row brewing over a handful of parliamentary selections where the current MP is retiring.  It’s a row that exposes the continuing machine politics tendencies of Labour’s leader’s office whose fixers are still are work even if their leader says he wants an end to machine politics. And it also reveals their willingness to smooth the path to Westminster of their favoured candidates – in this case right-wing NEC candidate Peter Wheeler. Wheeler may not have needed a parachute to replace departing Hazel Blears in his home constituency of Salford and Eccles, but he certainly did need the improper assistance of his influential friends to ensure that it didn’t have an all-women shortlist. Continue reading →