Labour has been a drama-free zone over the past few weeks as the Conservative Party terrorises the economy and morphs into a circular firing squad. That was until Monday night when a Labour MP was deselected by his local party. Sam Tarry, who represents Ilford South, lost a battle to stand again as Labour’s parliamentary candidate at the next general election. Jaws dropped and Labour WhatsApp groups started pinging.
Tarry lost, by some margin, to the leader of the local council (Redbridge) and long-standing local rival, Jas Athwal. At first glance, this may have strong Jackie-Weaver-Handforth-parish-council-Zoom vibes, but this story has more twists and unpleasant turns than House of Cards-meets-Succession.
Tarry, a poster boy for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and campaign group Momentum, fought a bitter and closely run selection battle back in 2019 against the favourite Athwal — a well-respected Punjabi council leader — to become the local MP. It was neck-and-neck then, 24 hours before the final selection, an allegation of serious sexual abuse was made against Athwal, who was swiftly suspended from the Labour Party, leaving Tarry to win the race in one of the safest Labour seats in the country.
There is no suggestion that Tarry or anyone close to Tarry was involved in making what turned out to be a vexatious claim against Athwal, who fought to clear his name. In September 2020, Athwal was exonerated by the Labour Party and had his suspension lifted. But the ordeal took a heavy toll. At the time he tweeted: “Words can’t describe the hell me and my family have been through at the hands of the Labour Party over this past year.” All this left a lot of resentment among local party members and supporters of Athwal, including neighbouring MP Wes Streeting.
Tarry recently made a name for himself as the shadow transport minister who Keir Starmer sacked for making up Labour policy while on the picket line supporting striking workers. He is also the partner of Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, whom Starmer has had a strained relationship with in the past. Athwal bided his time, challenged Tarry when he could and triggered a reselection battle which he won on Monday night.
Supporters of Athwal say that Tarry never reached out during what was a traumatic ordeal and claim that he wasn’t an effective local constituency MP. Tarry rejects this and has said he is “crestfallen” at the result and that “the people of Ilford deserve better than to have been at the centre of a manufactured political circus”. He has demanded to see the names of those who cast electronic votes and may challenge the result.
It’s a messy situation but will it cause a huge Starmer-versus-Tarry split in the party? I suspect not because the leader’s office has been very careful to not get involved and leave it to local party members. Ironically, Starmer supported Tarry over Athwal back in 2019 — when he served in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet — although their political paths have since significantly diverged over strikes. I doubt Rayner will make any formal intervention as that would be a terrible look for all concerned. Tarry is also well regarded by the Left of the party, especially the trade unions, and could be found another seat — although perhaps not with such a large majority.
But the irony of this messy story is that it was Momentum — of which Tarry was very much a part — which wanted to make it easier to deselect more “Right-wing, Blairite or problematic” Labour MPs. Starmer’s big battle at conference last year, which he won, was to reverse that trend and to make it harder to remove a sitting MP. The fact that a more Left-wing, Corbynite MP is the first MP that local members have dethroned since 2010 is telling.
Having spoken to people on the ground, I think local members wanted to right what they saw as a horrible wrong against a decent man and successful local leader. But I also think there was more to it. They see how things are changing under Starmer and want to move from being a party of internal drama and protest to one of power. Local sources say this was about justice, not factions, but it shows a shift in mood among party members who want to see the party take on the Government and end Labour’s years in the wilderness. I don’t think this row will split Labour — a stonking poll lead helps quell rebellion — but it does show that it is very much under new management and that Starmer means business.
