Labour’s shortlisting process was unfair, claims ex-Minister Caborn
FORMER SPORTS Minister Richard Caborn has described Labour’s shortlisting process for its Sheffield City Region mayoral candidate as “unfair and undemocratic” as he called for the party to review its procedures.
Mr Caborn, a former Sheffield Central MP and Trade and Industry Minister under Tony Blair, was interviewed by party officials in Wakefield earlier this month but did not make the shortlist.
Instead, Labour members will choose between Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis and Sheffield councillor Ben Curran, with the party’s candidate to be announced on March 23 ahead of the election itself in May.
In a statement issued yesterday, Mr Caborn said he had written to Labour’s General Secretary and Deputy Leader Tom Watson “outlining my concerns over the shortlisting process”.
He said he strongly disagreed with the interview panel’s feedback that he did not show enough campaign experience “when I have been campaigning for the party for almost 60 years”.
He added: “I was also surprised to discover that ‘I did not demonstrate enough understanding of South Yorkshire’, when I was not only born and raised in the region, but I was the only candidate originally from South Yorkshire.”
Describing the process as “unfair and undemocratic; not just to candidates, but to the membership and the wider public”, he said he had requested “that a review take place into these procedures, to ensure that the party learns from these mistakes”.
In response, a Labour Party spokesman said: “Mr Caborn’s disappointment is understandable but the shortlisting process was run fairly and in line with the Labour Party’s robust rules and procedures.”
Separately, the Corbynite chair of the Momentum campaign group, Jon Lansman, has triggered a power struggle at the top of Labour by challenging a Unite union official for the role of party general secretary.