
A ROW has erupted over Labour blocking Left-wing candidates from standing in the next general election. Former MP Emma Dent Coad was stopped yesterday from running as the candidate in Kensington. She won the seat from the Tories in 2017, but lost in 2019 by 150 votes.
Dent Coad told us today she âwasnât really given a fair goâ by Labourâs selection panel, and was read âa list of my sinsâ at a selection meeting last week. She said some of the allegations against her were inaccurate, and blamed âmachinery aroundâ leader Keir Starmer for the decision. Dent Coad claimed one of the panelists on the National Executive Committee who blocked her had liked a post by one of her opponents on Twitter, which she said was âgrossly unfairâ, âparticularly given somebody had gone through everything Iâve said for the last 15 yearsâ. Last year, she said Starmerâs Labour was âtoxicâ and didnât know what it stands for now.
The former Kensington member of parliament said she was âgutted, but also a realistâ. She said she always supported the Labour leadership over the years, despite often disagreeing with it, and added: âI was a very loyal member but I do speak out when I see fit and clearly I should keep my mouth shut some times.â Dent Coad said would get behind the Labour candiate who is âmost likely to winâ, arguing they should be from the area. âI donât think theyâre going to vote from people outside when they donât know anything about them apart from their naked ambitionâ she said.
Those shortlisted include Mete Coban, a councillor in Hackney, and Joe Powell, who set up Kensington Against Dirty Money and works for the Open Government Partnership, an organisation founded by Barack Obama. Also running are Stephen Cowan, head of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, former bus driver and now local Labour deputy leader Kasim Ali, and Salman Shaikh, founder of The Shaikh Group, which aims for better dialogue in the Middle East and North Africa.
Dent Coad is respected in the Kensington area for her support for the victims of the Grenfell tower fire. She believes the unequal constituency is a âmicrocosm of everything thatâs wrong with the Tory party and in the countryâ, which she argues in her book One Kensington. Another Left-wing candidate, Maurice Mcleod, was blocked from standing in Camberwell and Peckham at the weekend.
Five weeks: blink and you miss it

Politics comes at you fast these days. Late last week a piece by Kwasi Kwarteng with the title âMy first five weeks as Chancellor: A thank you to staffâ was printed on the internal Treasury intranet, in a bid to win over civil servants. But Kwarteng was sacked on Friday morning, and the text was removed, replaced by advice on how to avoid illness. Kwasiâs first five weeks were his last.
Dom driving Cleo to her book launch

We met ex-Downing Street aide Cleo Watson, right, at a bash for Harry Mountâs collection of latin quotations Et Tu, Brute? last week. Watson is now writing political novels, with the first out in May. Will Dominic Cummings, famous for his eye-testing trip to Barnard Castle, come to the launch? âHe wonât come to the party but he might drive me there,â Cleo joked. Make sure he wears his glasses ...
Frog turns to Toad

A LOCAL bakery forced to change its name by Michelin-starred chef Adam Handling has found a new, amphibious moniker. FROG Bakery in Camberwell was told to change its branding because it infringed on Handlingâs Frog restaurant in Covent Garden. Now it is called TOAD. âWeâve evolved,â the bakery wrote on Instagram. âSame s**t, brand-new nameâ. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your... toad?
Pink power wins the day
Londonerâs Diary 18th October

LEADING men Dwayne âThe Rockâ Johnson and Pierce Brosnan were pretty in pink at the Corinthia Hotel at a press call for their film Black Adam yesterday. We donât fancy Pierceâs chances in an arm wrestle. In Leicester Square, Charlotte Riley and Chloë Grace Moretz came out for their new show The Peripheral while at Mayfair members club 5 Hertford Street, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monae caroused at a reception for their whodunnit sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.