Ian Byrne’s Reselection Mystery

When Jeremy Corbyn was elected - twice - as Labour leader, we were told, especially by the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press, that for insufficiently left-wing Labour MPs, this would mean Soviet-style purges, mass reselections, and whatever it took to remove the ideologically impure from power. It was a pack of lies. It didn’t happen.

Ian Byrne

But now that Labour has a leader more to the liking of the Westminster media bubble, there are indeed reselections, one of which has already seen Sam Tarry removed as the party’s candidate to fight Ilford South at the next General Election. Then came a series of “trigger ballots” precipitating a contest in the ultra-safe seat of Liverpool West Derby.

We were not told what the problem was with Ian Byrne, the sitting MP, who has campaigned relentlessly for the less well-off: indeed, he founded Fans Supporting Foodbanks, an initiative to address food poverty in Liverpool. But he was also an unswerving supporter of Corbyn’s leadership.

Also, it seems that there was resentment at Byrne’s selection as Labour’s candidate to replace Stephen Twigg. Then, as the shortlisting of those wishing to challenge Byrne was undertaken, it got dirty. The sitting MP was denied access to Labour’s Campaign facility, whereby party members can be contacted en masse. He was reduced to campaigning by social media.

Why was he shut out? Ah well. As with the reason for reselection, we don’t get to find out. But right on cue, someone appears to have contacted the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, who proceeded to publish a characteristic slice of selective nudge-nudgery.

“Labour Dismiss Nepotism Claims After MP’s Daughter Wins His Old Council Seat … LABOUR KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY” leered The Great Guido, going on to wibble “Congratulations to the newest member of Liverpool city council, 22-year old Ellie Byrne, who claimed her own stonking majority in the by-election for the Everton ward seat on Thursday - raking in 925 votes on a 62% share. A seat which, until January, was held by Ian Byrne … her father”.

The Fawkes massive also sneered “Byrne held the council position alongside his Westminster seat for over two years, presumably because he knew he was the best person for the job”. No mention that Byrne had been asked to continue in the role, nor that he had been donating his Councillor’s allowance to Vauxhall Law Centre, which provides free legal advice to those facing problems with debt, housing and the benefits system.

Who's behind the reselection waste of money?

But the post did talk about “An anonymous email from furious Labour activists leading up to the election” of his daughter. No citation. No surprise. Then there was Byrne’s opponent, Anthony Lavelle, who had previously been deemed acceptable to be shortlisted for Liverpool’s Mayoral election, after the candidate first selected was removed, as Zelo Street noted at the time.

He was a relative newcomer. He did not get the nod to stand as Mayor, so now he was standing to replace a sitting MP. But there was another hopeful, Kimberley Whitehead. Except that, on the morning of the vote that would decide who would stand as Labour’s candidate for West Derby next time round, she withdrew from the contest. Was that of her own volition?

When the contest came, it was clear that those “in the room” were mostly supporting Ian Byrne. The 2021 Overall MP of the Year, backed by Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham among others, won that vote easily. Then came the postal votes, which favoured Lavelle. But despite barring him from the party’s own systems, Byrne won. This deselection attempt failed.

But the questions will not go away. Why attempt to deselect an excellent campaigning MP? Why deny him access to the Campaign system? Why did Ms Whitehead withdraw her candidacy at the last minute? And why back Lavelle, against whom serious allegations of bullying and hate speech against a disabled fellow student have been made and apparently not rebutted?

Moreover, one further question enters: who is organising the deselection attempts? Is it David Evans? Someone on his behalf? Or was the Skwawkbox right when it claimed “Labour has allocated shortlisting for local by-elections in Liverpool … to right-wing NEC member Luke Akehurst”? Who was so popular as a Councillor that his voters binned him in favour of the Greens.

Akehurst hardly dispelled the claims when he later sneered “Anyone remember the dire prophesies that Labour would lose loads of votes to the far left because the NEC had taken charge of shortlisting candidates for 3 Liverpool byelections? All 3 won by huge margins by Labour yesterday”. Taking a special interest, Luke? What about deselection attempts?

We may never find out. But this whole episode has done Labour no favours. And that is no fault of Ian Byrne. Control freakery did not work during the Blair years. It won’t work now. So how about Labour stop wasting resources on this lamentable practice and consider taking a leaf out of Ian Byrne’s book?

Like putting the poor and vulnerable first. Just a thought.

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