Operation Black Vote carries news of a protest in Brixton last Saturday over the threat to deselect a newly-selected Labour council candidate, apparently on grounds that she used to be a Liberal Democrat.
The “witch-hunt” of Adeline Aina stems from the fact that she replaced leading Lambeth councillor Pete Robbins, OBV say.
If being a former Lib Dem is the reason this sister is being called for a “reinterview” then the move deserves the label “stitch-up.”
Whatever anyone thinks of people who switch parties it is a surprisingly common, almost weekly, reality of politics involving dozens of elected councillors moving in every direction each year.
In most cases the benefiting party welcome the defector with open arms while the losing party gripe and grumble. Rarely do the receiving party throw a wobbly.
Labour welcome refugees from the Lib Dems and Conservatives all the time, and the same is true for other parties happily accepting disillusioned Labour activists. A quick Google will reveal just how common this is across Britain.
In this context there appears nothing wrong with Adeline, a former Lib Dem, being picked to represent Labour in the 2014 local elections. I am not in the least bit surprised or shocked by this; it’s the stuff of local politics.
As OBV points out, Lambeth Labour councillor Sally Prentice – a former Labour minister – is herself a former Lib Dem. Peter Hain MP was once leader of Liberal Youth and former minister Lord Andrew Adonis is ex-SDP along with ex-Tony Blair advisor’s Roger Liddle and Derek Scott.
At a local level there are countless former Lib Dems who have gravitated to the Labour fold in the past couple of years including councillors James Allie in Brent and Nader Fekri in Calderdale. In fact the national party’s former director of policy, Professor Richard Grayson, recently made the journey.
Lambeth Labour ought to come clean over their reasons for reinterviewing Adeline, or better still just allow her to stand for election as local ward members have already chosen her to do.
By Lester Holloway @brolezholloway
