VOTING FRAUD SCANDAL: Plans for nominations of candidates and announcements ahead of next May’s London Assembly elections could be thrown into disarray as party officials step in again.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Guido Gotcha!: how the far-right Guido Fawkes blog has picked up on the story today
Officials at the Labour Party’s London regional HQ have been forced to halt a second selection process in just 24 hours, with the choice of candidate to run in Croydon and Sutton in next May’s London elections now also being “paused”.
It is less than a day since Labour officials intervened to cancel the planned parliamentary selection meeting for the new Croydon East constituency that was due to take place tomorrow.
Veteran political correspondent Michael Crick reported shocking allegations of “suspected fraud” and “allegations of large-scale tampering with membership lists” in Croydon East’s selection. “Several complaints already made to Labour national and London region HQs, especially over use of online votes,” Crick revealed.
The Croydon East selection had been using the online voting tool Anonyvoter, an IT system that had been acquired by Labour without any commercial tendering process.
Anonyvoter had been developed by Henson IT Solutions, a Croydon-based firm where Mark Henson is the managing director. London Labour had installed Henson, without any member vote, as treasurer of the new Croydon East Constituency Labour Party.
There are only two candidates for selection to become the Labour candidate in the London elections for the Croydon and Sutton super-constituency, and one of them is Maddie Henson. A Croydon councillor, she is married to Mark Henson and describes herself as “owner of Henson IT Solutions” – the same company which supplies the Labour Party with Anonyvoter.
Mrs Anonyvoter: Maddie Henson describes herself as the ‘owner’ of the company that supplies the online voting system
The Croydon and Sutton selection was being conducted using Anonyvoter, with ballots due to be distributed to members today and a voting deadline on Monday.
Instead, Labour members received the following curt message from a nameless official at London Labour: “Following receipt of complaints about the Croydon East selection process, the Party has taken the decision to pause the process in the GLA Constituency of Croydon and Sutton while those complaints are investigated.
“We will provide further information in due course.”
Seasoned Labour officials and party-watchers were left astonished by this latest turn of events, even by the standards of Croydon Labour, which under the influence of Blairites Tony Newman, Steve Reed and Alison Butler, has been in a state of constant turmoil and crisis for several years. It was David Evans, now General Secretary of the Labour Party, who oversaw Croydon Labour’s local election campaign in 2014.
The consequences of today’s decision could yet impact the 2024 London-wide campaign.
One source highlighted how London Labour has still to conduct its selection of “list” candidates for the Assembly elections – and that this might prove to be impossible without the use of a trusted and functioning online voting system.
“The implications of all this could cascade all over London,” one source said. London Labour were expected to reveal all their May 2024 candidates in a photo op with London Mayor Sadiq Khan to be staged on December 5, just 11 days away.
“Was this really the best voting system available, or just the cheapest?” another asked about the use of Anonyvoter.
“Given all the problems and controversies surrounding it, it really seems like it’s something David Evans picked up out the back of Del Boy’s van.”
Read more: Newman Numpty Henson allowed to run for Assembly selection
Read more: Labour cancels Croydon selection after voting fraud claims
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
Read more: The fix is in: Labour excludes members from Croydon selection
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