the wilted rose

The Labour Party has traditionally been able to count upon the support of many people of South Asian and black (African-Caribbean) heritage.  However, in recent years Labour has been losing the Muslim vote, primarily because of the war on terror – and no doubt proposals to increase the limit for detention without trial to 42 days, and the vote taking place in the House of Commons this Wednesday, will anger many more Muslim voters.  And, as reported here last year, Labour’s all-women shortlists have been preventing many black and Asian men from being selected as parliamentary candidates.

While MPs are making their minds up, one of Birmingham’s greatest parliamentarians, Clare Short, has no doubt been watching with interest as her seat selects its next Labour candidate.  Birmingham Ladywood she still represents as an Independent, but she will presumably not be standing again in 2010 – and certainly not as Labour.

It’s not just Amy Winehouse (despicably singing a racist song) who has annoyed black people.  Now it seems that the veteran Labour Birmingham City Councillor (12 years service), Yvonne Mosquito, a black Christian, has been overlooked as Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham, Ladywood in favour of Shabana Mahmood, the 27-year-old daughter of the Chairman of the Birmingham Labour Party.  Cllr Mosquito was recently removed by the Labour Group/Labour Party from the Police Authority in Birmingham despite being the only black woman on the Authority.

So what to make of all this?  Whatever the merits of Ms Mahmood, many people in Ladywood are clearly not happy with the outcome of the selection process.  The Labour Party’s attitude is that they will probably win the seat anyway because they take people’s votes for granted.  It’s likely that Ladywood will show the Labour Party what they really think of them.  Clare Short’s notional majority of 6,000 (down from 23,000 in 1997) is surely going to evaporate. 

Cllr Ayoub Khan, the Liberal Democrat candidate, or a high-profile local Indepedendent (if one were to stand), looks most likely to be the winner in this seat. 

If the Labour Party can’t win Birmingham, Ladywood then where can it win?