Swansea West selection
Interesting selection contest going on in Swansea West CLP, a seat with a Labour majority of 4269 over the LDs, where Father of the House Alan Williams is retiring as MP at the next election.
On politicalbetting.com the nominations are reported as:
Dr Parvaiz Ali: nominated by Castle, Cockett, Dunvant, Killay, Mayals, Sketty and Townhill Wards, Amicus 0257, 0901, Swansea University Labour Students.
Alana Davies: nominated by Castle & Cockett Wards.
Geraint Davies: nominated by Castle Ward & Co-operative Party.
Tamsin Dunwoody: Nominated by Uplands Ward, Unison City & County of Swansea, TSSA, USDAW A208,A030,A180, A194, A196.
Sophie Howe: nominated by Dunvant, Killay, Mayals, Sketty & Townhill Wards, Swansea University Labour Students.
Derek Vaughan: nominated by Uplands Ward, ASLEF, TGWU 4/1, 4/1400/2, 4/72, Unison Health, Unison City & County of Swansea.
The selection takes place on Friday.
Geraint Davies is the former MP for Croydon Central (1997-2005), Tamsin Dunwoody is Gwyneth Dunwoody MP's daughter and was Assembly Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire from 2003-2007 and a Deputy Minister in the pre-election Welsh Assembly Government.
Does anyone know anything about the other candidates?
UPDATE: The selection was won by Geraint Davies.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 10:18 am
22 Comments:
Tamsin Dunwoody is daughter of Gwyneth Dunwoody and (more importantly in this part of the world) granddaughter of Morgan Phillips. She was AM for Preseli Pembrokeshire from 2003 but lost her seat in May.
Sophie Howe is a Cardiff City councillor and was the unsuccessful candidate in Cardiff North in the Assembly elections (where she did quite well but was always on to a loser).
12:49 pm, July 12, 2007
Just think - with your affiliations and connections, if you were living in Castle Ward you could vote for most of the candidates!
Parvaiz Ali via Amicus.
Alana Davies via your CLP.
Geraint Davies via the Co-op Party.
Sophie Howe via NOLS.
Derek Vaughan via T&GW.
Poor old Tamsin Dunwoody would be the only one you didn't vote for.
2:02 pm, July 12, 2007
Do any of these people have any politics?
2:08 pm, July 12, 2007
Sophie Howe fought and lost Cardiff N in the Assembly elections (se was MP Julie Morgan's researcher) and a Cardiff cllr.
Derek Vaughan is the leader of Neath Port Talbot Council. He tried for Blanaeu Gwent, but lost out to Owen Smith, who was in turn defeated by independent Trish Law in the Parliamentary by election of last year.
Parviz Ali was also, I bellieve a Labour list candidate in the 2003 Welsh Assembly elections. But I may be wrong on that one.
4:22 pm, July 12, 2007
Did they have a BME element in their shortlisting? Presumably the NOLS one is the one with backing from HQ and Akehurst?
5:57 pm, July 12, 2007
You would assume any NOLS nomination was on the line of HQ but where decisions are taken by local university Labour Clubs then you can't make the same assumption.
Think, for example of Sheffield, Hull, Nottingham, Cambridge, LSE, Stirling and Lancaster University Labour Clubs in recent years...
6:14 pm, July 12, 2007
Yeah, how are NOLS nominations sorted out? Not democratically, just like the whole organisation really.
9:18 pm, July 12, 2007
I assume the Labour Club in Swansea University has individually affiliated to the CLP like a TU branch...
10:18 pm, July 12, 2007
They are decided democratically at meetings of the individual Labour Clubs concerned.
10:19 pm, July 12, 2007
Would it be possible for you to plug my Sedgefield caption competition?
9:25 am, July 13, 2007
Dr Ali is also Swansea West CLP Chair. Vaughan is a Neath councillor (acutally I think he is the council leader)
11:24 am, July 13, 2007
"He tried for Blanaeu Gwent, but lost out to Owen Smith, who was in turn defeated by independent Trish Law in the Parliamentary by election of last year.
I think Owen Smith run for the Parliamantary seat and so lost to Dai Davies, not Trish Low who is the Welsh Assembly AM
"Parviz Ali was also"
Ali was on Bleanau Gwneth shortlist too
11:27 am, July 13, 2007
Geraint Davies wins
11:32 pm, July 13, 2007
Looks like Labour have fouled up on the selection and might let the Lib Dems in. Anyone know who the Lib candidate is?
9:51 pm, July 14, 2007
"Anyone know who the Lib candidate is? "
They haven't selected yet. Their 2005 PPC defected to the tories.
12:52 pm, July 15, 2007
Not a good result for Labour. When Geraint (unexpectedly) won Croydon Central in '97 it took him 5 years to establish a constituency office (i.e. after his 2001 re-election) and only after pressure from the local party.
He spent all his time aspiring to greater things in Westminster (despite only reaching the dizzy heights of departmental PPS in 2003/4) and running his holiday company instead of solidifying his position in the constituency. Only reason he retook the seat in 2001 was because the well-respected Andy Bagnall was the Croydon Labour Paty organiser.
When confronted by the media in 2004/05 for claiming the 2nd homes allowance (his constituency and family home were 10 miles from Westminster) he famously told them that he needed a flat in central London because he couldn't claim taxis for travelling to / from Westminster early in the morning or late at night. Trains from Victoria run 24 hours to East Croydon and his home is within a 4 minute walk from East Croydon station. His constituents took a dim view of this as they have to make that journey early in the morning and late at night without being able to reclaim taxis.
Gives the Libs a better chance in Swansea West than they otherwise might have had.
7:14 pm, July 15, 2007
why are labour so crap at choosing candidates????? was there a left-winger??????
12:12 am, July 17, 2007
Geraint Davies won Croydon Central in 1997 despite the national party not thinking it possible to win this seat. Geraint did and worked his socks off in combination with a large number of members. No proffessional agent, just volunteers. Shows you what can be done with a good team and the right wind behind you.
Attacking Geraint for expenses claims (exactly what a host of MPs do) completly ignores that Geraint had a very strong committment to casework with full time caseworkers, regular surgeris and a very strong track record of communication with electors.
Something that Swansea West will now have to put up with for many years to come.
I expect the Swansea West majority to go up quite a lot once Geraint gets properly into election mode...
10:14 am, July 17, 2007
Parvaiz Ali won the first round - but he was defeated by other round votes. A shame, actually, as he is a man who is deeply commited to swansea - and he is not a lackey of blair or brown either. Shame he lost, really.
8:31 am, July 30, 2007
Come off it! Geraint got in by the back door - and he is a usual tedious blairite. Personally, I shall be abstaining at the next election - as Geraint is a lackey. Parvaiz would have been better - he is local (unlike Geraint, who was parachuted in by the blairites - and local party members are too thick to see it!)
Give me strength...........
8:35 am, July 30, 2007
Geraint Davies and his long term "assistant" Sarah Branson (a barrister) are a waste of space.
www.sarahbranson.com
Geraint Davies
1:16 pm, October 11, 2007
Dr Ali was robbed of this nomination. Geraint got in by second and third preferences. On a one man one vote system he floored everyone.
5:27 pm, February 27, 2008
Post a Comment
<< Home