LABOUR SELECTION SCANDAL: ‘Day of shame’ as Information Commissioner and Met Police confirm investigations into allegations of vote-rigging in Croydon East selection. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Scotland Yard has confirmed to Inside Croydon that its special cyber crime unit is conducting an active investigation into Labour’s Croydon East selection, which was abruptly halted last November when complaints were made that the local party’s membership lists had been tampered with.
Inside Croydon reported last week that the selection process had been re-started, but with one of the four short-listed candidates, Unison union official Joel Bodmer, no longer in the contest. “Bodger” issued a barely credible statement claiming that he had “withdrawn” from the contest in order to spend more time with his family.
Withdrawn: Joel ‘Bodger’ Bodmer is out of Labour’s Croydon East contest
When they halted the selection process four months ago, Labour submitted a report to the Information Commissioner’s Office. “Organisations have a responsibility to ensure the data they process is accurate,” an ICO spokesperson said, confirming that they were also “making enquiries” into the Croydon Labour situation.
And today, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Inside Croydon, “We have received allegations of computer misuse in relation to an internal selection process for a political party in Croydon during October and November last year.
“The Met’s Cyber Crime team are investigating and enquiries are ongoing.”
The police declined to say whether anyone had been questioned as part of their investigation.
Carole Bonner, who was installed last year by London Labour as the interim chair of the Croydon East CLP, did not respond when contacted today by Inside Croydon for comment.
But then Bonner – a former councillor in Croydon who worked closely with discredited former council leader Tony Newman – and the other unelected Croydon East CLP officers, secretary Melanie Felton and treasurer Mark Henson, have been entirely uncommunicative with local members for almost six months, since the first complaints of attempts to fiddle the membership lists.
It had been alleged that one candidate had somehow been given early access to the vital membership lists to begin canvassing members for their support, while other candidates filed formal objections when it emerged that the members’ data that they were provided with was full of errors.
No comment: Labour official Carole Bonner
On one list, 71 members had their home address changed compared to a list from earlier in 2023; 26 had their phone number changed; 40 members had been given a “new” email addresses – potentially very handy when it comes to remote voting in a tightly contested selection…
Despite being formed in October 2023, Croydon East CLP has never yet held a meeting, either in-person or via Zoom. The selection meeting is expected to finally take place, at Coloma girls’ school in Shirley, this Saturday, when the three candidates will address the CLP’s members in person.
The parliamentary selection contest, involving around 600 members in the CLP, is an internal Labour matter. But it has been suggested that tampering with membership lists and voting rights potentially to favour one person seeking to become an MP could be a form of fraud once known as “obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception”.
The confirmation that the local Labour Party is subject to criminal investigation will do little to reassure grassroots members, who have endured years of highly questionable conduct by officials and senior figures, several of whom were also involved in the financial collapse of the local council.
“This is yet another day of shame for Croydon Labour Party and those mismanaging the party locally for years,” one senior figure told Inside Croydon.
“Decent Labour members in Croydon are being let down time and again by those who fail to act honestly and accountably. Croydon Labour is straining its relationship with its members and voters to breaking point.”
Read more: Labour admits serious breach of private data in Croydon East
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
Read more: Croydon Labour’s ‘hidden primary’ will choose a new MP
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
