Labour MP Sam Tarry facing uncertain future in Ilford South
Local Labour members in Ilford South have voted in favour of making MP Sam Tarry - who once ran Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign - face a selection contest to stand again at the next election
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A Labour MP who once accused some in the party of”exploiting” antisemitism claims to attack Jeremy Corbyn is facing a fight to remain a candidate at the next general election after being “triggered” in a ballot of local members.
Sam Tarry, who ran Corbyn’s leadership campaign in 2016, failed to win any of the 10 local branch votes that took place in his Iford South constituency, leaving him facing competition from other candidates to stand for Labour at the next election.
In a statement on Friday, Tarry said he had submitted evidence of “rule breaking” and “concrete evidence of voter fraud” in the ballot to trigger him.
Under Labour rules all MPs must win the support of a majority of local members to stand again for election as an MP.
Tarry, a shadow transport minister, learned his fate on Thursday evening as the final ballot took place, and then affiliate members of the party were consulted over either reselecting him as the local candidate, or leave him to face an open selection contest.
Results from Ilford South showed that 66 per cent of the 594 local members who voted had backed staging a full selection contest.
A further three affiliated groups also voted to “trigger” Tarry after consulting their members.
Momentum activist backed Tarry had stood for selection in the seat of Ilford South, previously held by Mike Gapes ahead of the 2019 election, which he went on to win.
On 4 October 2019, the evening before members were due to vote, rival candidate, local Redbridge Council leader Jas Athwal was suspended from the party over an allegation of sexual harassment.
Later that month, after a postponement of the vote, and with Athwal ineligible due to his suspension, Tarry was selected.
Athwal was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing, admitting the false allegation deeply affected him, and after spending £150,000 on lawyers.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the MP for neighbouring Ilford North, is amongst those to have called again for an independent investigation into the alleged “stitch up” over the parliamentary selection.
As Redbridge Counci leader Labour have enjoyed unprecedented success, and Athwal is now expected to announce he wishes to stand for selection in the seat again.
After Tarry made his comments about antisemitism being “exploited” during the 2019 election campaign, the Jewish Labour Movement said his remarks were “beyond disappointing”.[
Tarry later claimed that his comments had been misunderstood.
In 2020, he again faced criticism after a motion attacking the Board of Deputies infuriated local Jewish members, but Tarry refused to condemn allegations of intimidation at a branch meeting saying only “there are conflicting accounts of what happened and what was said.”
Some local members also raised concerns about the amount of time Tarry spent in the east London constituency, including during the pandemic.
Tarry also ran his close friend Angela Rayner’s deputy leadership campaign in 2020. He has received support for MPs Ed Miliband and Tulip Siddiq is his battle to remain Labour’s candidate for the seat.
Siddiq wrote:”“From standing up for workers, inclusivity and equality, to global justice, I know Sam is the best possible representative for Ilford South’s community and I hope he can count on your support.”
In his statement Tarry added:”There is now a clear pattern of factional elements of the Party machine targeting socialist and trade union backed candidates.”
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