Labour’s inexplicably delayed selection process to choose a candidate to run for Croydon Mayor in 2026 enters its final stages tomorrow, but without the party holding a single in-person selection meeting with the pair of wannabes, councillors Rowenna Davis and Manju Shahul-Hameed.
Croydon Labour is not being trusted to organise any aspect of the process, with the party’s London region office in control, including for tomorrow evening’s virtual hustings, where the candidates will no doubt go into great detail about their plans for a Croydon air show or expand on their work in the charity sector…
Yet no confirmation has been sent to members of exactly how they will get to vote for their favoured candidate, in a process that is supposed to be completed before Easter.
It seemed at one point that Labour was going to restrict selection to voting by email – and so exclude any members who are not readily online or cannot afford internet access. It remains unconfirmed, but Labour seems to have backed down on this decision to allow voting by post.
The party is still intent, though, on using the dodgy Anonyvoter online system – a software which has got Labour in Croydon into hot water already, with the selection of a parliamentary candidate for Croydon East still subject to a fraud investigation by the Metropolitan Police.
London Labour is taking no risks over having its members physically gathering together to swap notes or compare opinions about how the party is being run, though. The one opportunity for the rank-and-file to ask potential mayoral candidates any questions about what they can offer will come tomorrow evening.
Woe betide you if you already had anything planned. A London region organiser sent this email to members just yesterday.
“We are pleased to invite you to the Croydon Mayoral hustings event on Wednesday, 9th April, starting at 7pm. This event will be held on Zoom, and we would be delighted to have you join us.” Which is nice.
“This hustings is a unique opportunity for you to listen to the candidates as they present their plans and answer questions on their visions for Croydon.” For “unique”, read “only”.
Please follow the link below to register for the event. You will then be sent the login in details for the event closer to the time… We look forward to seeing you there!”
As if to rub it in over Croydon Labour still being on the naughty step almost five years since Tony Newman and his Numpties, including Shahul-Hameed, bankrupted the borough, the email invite was signed-off, “Best wishes, London Labour”.
Croydon’s local elections, including the borough’s second mayoral election, alongside voting for 70 councillors across 28 wards, are due to be held on Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
Read more: ‘We need a Mayor who puts people first’ says Labour’s Davis
Read more: Newman Numpty could seek Labour pick as Mayor candidate
Read more: You can depend on Croydon Labour: they always let you down
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Sending an email on Monday April 7 announcing a single virtual hustings Wednesday, April 9, starting at 7pm for which one must register at 2pm Wednesday is either classic selection process dirty tricks or the finest of nincompoopery…
Is anyone really going to tell me that the party goes on and on these days about being “the party of working people” really just didn’t seem to consider that any of their working supporters might be… erm… working?
Not that there’s any point anyway voting for either of the candidates whilst bankrupt Croydon remains in special measures with all the real decisions being made by Civil Servants and accountants… so I don’t suppose I’ll be missing anything.
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Predictably there was no chance to engage with the hustings last night. No chat or Q&A function, no chance to interject. The moderator read out the questions to Manju and Rowenna who took it in turns to answer. Rowenna was confident and polished and went through her ideas with passion and professionalism. With Manju it looked like the script she was reading from was reflected in her glasses. All a bit underwhelming really.