EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Latte Labour: voters could have serious trust issues with the party in Croydon
The Labour Party has admitted that there was an attempt at electoral fraud conducted in its parliamentary selection in Croydon East, involving the compromising of the personal data of more than 500 members.
In a message sent to party members in the new parliamentary constituency this morning, Labour said it has reported the serious data breach to the Information Commissioners’ Office – an admission that the party had failed in its data protection duties.
They also admit that “some of the personal details of Labour members in the Croydon East constituency were altered on the Labour Party membership database without authorisation”.
Labour said that they have found evidence that email addresses, telephone numbers and postal addresses were interfered with – probably to provide advantage to one of the candidates seeking a “job for life” by being Labour’s General Election candidate in the new, very safe parliamentary seat.
Labour’s message to members also revealed that this electoral fraud began in September 2023 – the month before the Croydon East CLP was even formed.
Croydon East CLP was established after the party’s annual conference, with the objective of handling the affairs of a new constituency formed with bits of the previously marginal Croydon Central and parts of Tory stronghold Croydon South, as Croydon gets a fourth MP from the next General Election.
Business partners: from left, Mark and Maddie Henson with Labour Party General Secretary David Evans. The Hensons supply the Anonyvoter digital voting system to Labour
Today’s message is the only communication that members of the CLP have received in nearly four months, since Labour officials halted the dodgy process on the eve of the selection meeting. Three of the four candidates for selection are understood to have filed formal complaints about the process.
Croydon East CLP was formed with interim officials imposed on the organisation: former Croydon councillor Carole Bonner as chair, Melanie Fenton as secretary and Mark Henson, the co-owner of the Anonyvoter digital voting system used by Labour, as treasurer.
Croydon East CLP under Bonner, Fenton and Henson has never held a meeting, and members are still awaiting their first AGM – which was supposed to be staged in the autumn – for the opportunity to elect their own officials.
With time running out before the General Election, which could be held as soon as May 2, Croydon East members remain in the dark about when and how the parliamentary selection contest might resume. Likewise, the selection of the Labour candidate for the Croydon and Sutton constituency for the London elections, which will be held on the first Thursday in May, is also to be resolved.
The message distributed by the Labour Party this morning says:
Notification of Resumption of Croydon East and Croydon and Sutton Selections and outcome of membership data investigation
We are writing to you following the conclusion of an investigation the Labour Party has conducted as a result of receiving information on 22 November 2023 that the membership data for Croydon East appeared to include inaccurate information.
On 23 November 2023, the selection processes for the Labour Party Parliamentary candidate for Croydon East and the London Assembly candidate for Croydon and Sutton were paused, and all access to membership data was restricted shortly afterwards. This was so the information could be investigated, whilst also protecting the integrity of the Labour Party’s internal democratic processes. On 23 November 2023, we also informed the Information Commissioner’s Office that there had been a potential personal data incident.
The Labour Party takes the protection of your personal information and the rights of our members very seriously, which is why we have thoroughly investigated these matters and why we are now writing to inform you of the outcome of our investigation. We also wish to notify you of the next steps for both selections. Our investigation has now shown that, from 8 September 2023 to 14 November 2023, some of the personal details of Labour members in the Croydon East constituency were altered on the Labour Party membership database without authorisation. The personal details that were amended included e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and postal addresses. We can confirm that no sensitive personal data, such as financial data, was affected by this incident. As a result, you may not have received all Labour Party communications that we tried to send to you during this period, including information about the Croydon East and Croydon and Sutton selection processes.
We want to assure you of the following important points in respect of this incident:
Following the careful remedial work undertaken by the Labour Party (with the support of its expert external advisors), we are confident that all of your personal details have now been restored on our systems. This means that we will imminently be able to recommence the Croydon East and Croydon and Sutton selection processes. It also means that any future communications from the Labour Party will be sent to the address provided to us by you.
Based on our extensive investigations into this incident, we do not believe that any of your data was removed from our systems. The issue appears to have been confined to the unauthorised amendment of some of the data on our systems.We would like to remind you that you can check and update your Labour Party membership details by logging into Labour Hub. You can make any necessary updates to your personal information before ballots are issued for both selection contests.
If you are eligible to participate in either the Croydon and Sutton London Assembly selection and/or the Croydon East Parliamentary selection, the deadline for updating your personal information is 23:59 on Thursday 7 March 2024. The Labour Party will conduct additional checks on any changes made to personal information prior to this deadline to ensure they are legitimate.
Further information about the selection processes will be sent by the London Labour Party.
We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this incident may have caused you. Any questions which you may have in connection with this incident should be directed to dataprotection@labour.org.uk.
Yours sincerely,
The Labour Party
Members who received the message today took some small consolation that they will, at long last, be able to pick their own prospective MP democratically, and not – as had been threatened – have them imposed by the party’s ruling NEC.
Unsafe pair of hands: Joel Bodmer, here with his Unison colleague Yvonne Green, was instrumental in Labour’s disastrous election campaign in 2022. He might yet be selected as a prospective MP
Pollsters at Electoral Calculus reckon that Labour has a 98% chance of winning the Croydon East seat – making it effectively a job for life for whoever it is that Labour puts on the ballot paper.
Croydon East Labour members were just days away from their first meeting when Labour’s London Region halted selection proceedings because of complaints of election fraud, ballot-rigging and fixes going on with the CLP membership lists.
“Several complaints already made to Labour national and London region HQs, especially over use of online votes,” Michael Crick reported at the time.
Members had already been denied any part in the short-listing process, with the four candidates all chosen by an unelected committee of unidentified officials from Labour’s London Region and the NEC.
Silent chair: former Croydon councillor Carole Bonner
The original four candidates were Olga Fitzroy, a councillor in Lambeth with a reputation for organising successful national campaigns in the music industry, Natasha Irons, a Merton councillor, Johnson Situ, a former Southwark councillor who now works for London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and Joel “Bodger” Bodmer, who has never been elected to any public office.
It has still not been made clear whether all of the candidates will go forward for selection under Labour’s revised timetable.
In the Croydon East parliamentary election, the Tories – with Jason Cummings, the Conservative councillor who helped push through last year’s 15% Council Tax hike – and the Greens – Peter Underwood – have already chosen their candidates.
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
Read more: The fix is in: Labour excludes members from Croydon selection
Read more: Croydon Labour’s ‘hidden primary’ will choose a new MP
Read more: Labour’s NEC imposes selection shortlist on Croydon East
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