My (Labour Party) parliamentary candidate
For the British General Election, I am a voter in the constituency of Brent North. When we first moved here in 1984, it was a Conservative seat. Since 1997, it has been Labour and the Member of Parliament has been Barry Gardiner. He’s been a very good constituency MP, although he didn’t have a brilliant record in the expenses scandal. He was a Minister under Tony Blair’s prime ministership but he has not been a fan of Gordon Brown as leader.
We’ve now received three pieces of election material from Barry Gardiner. I can’t find the word ‘Labour’ anywhere on the first item which uses green and violet colours; the second leaflet – which uses the traditional Labour colours of red and yellow – only has the word ‘Labour’ on it once; the third item makes a few glancing references to ‘Labour’ but is all about his record in the constituency and his promises for further action in the constituency.
It is abundantly clear, therefore, that Barry Gardiner regards the Labour brand in general and the Gordon Brown name in particular as utterly toxic and to be avoided. Instead the whole thrust of his appeal is as the sitting MP who has served his constituents well and deserves to be returned again on a personal basis.
In the circumstances, I understand his emphasis on the personal rather than the political but it was the Labour brand that got him elected in the last three General Elections and he should stand by it. After all, we have Borough Council elections running at the same time and Labour’s candidates for those elections cannot ignore the Labour name in the same way.
Barry will get my vote and he deserves to be re-elected but I hope that he won’t forget his responsibility to the wider Labour movement.