Diane Abbott: Labour Mayoral contender
Croydon’s Ruskin House will stage a Labour London Mayoral hustings on Monday week, August 10.
The event is being co-ordinated on behalf of 10 outer London constituency Labour parties by the same officials from Croydon Central who are staging an open meeting with Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn next Tuesday.
The hustings have been arranged in Croydon because all the official Labour Party-organised events have been held in central London – the meeting staged furthest south being last night’s at the Elephant and Castle.
Labour has six short-listed candidates seeking selection for London Mayor: Dame Tessa Jowell, the former Olympics Minister in Tony Blair’s government; the Hackney MP, Diane Abbott; Tooting’s Sadiq Khan MP, whose father was a bus driver, apparently; Gareth Thomas, the MP from Harrow; Tottenham MP David Lammy; and transport expert Christian Wolmar.
The selection is being done through an open primary which allows Labour supporters who register before August 12 allowed to vote alongside affiliates and party members. Labour’s selected candidate will be on the ballot paper for London Mayor next May.
The Croydon hustings organisers have had confirmation of attendance from all the candidates with the exception of Khan, the former shadow spokesman for London, who has so far failed to respond to any of their invitations.
- The response from people wishing to attend next Tuesday’s Corbyn meeting has been overwhelming, and the organisers ask that anyone wishing to attend should ensure that they register to avoid possible disappointment.
- Inside Croydon Events: for dates and links to what’s happening in and around Croydon, updated daily, click here
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Wow! The shabby looking Ruskin House seems totally inadequate to host such a prestigious event for these Labour Party hierarchy. The building itself was once an extremely well maintained Prep School for John Ruskin Grammar School, one of the best in Croydon. Under the new Landlord, every time I drive past it, the building has morphed into a Soup Kitchen lookalike premises so ably described by Charles Dickens. l