The Labour shortlist for Oldham

Labour's NEC has true to form appeared to stitch up the final short list of Labour's candidates for Oldham's bye election following the election court decision to strip lying racist Phil Woolas as MP.

According to the BBC the final short list of 3 includes 2 Muslims and one Non Muslim candidate with a ridiculous omission of Afzal Khan. Readers may wonder why I'm critical given two of 3 candidates (Riaz Ahmad and Abdul Jabber) who will now be put forward for final selection by Oldham members are Muslim. Labour's NEC chose 2 Muslims for one reason and one reason only to ensure Muslim members of Oldham CLP divide their loyalty and votes amongst the two while Debbie Abrahams slips through. In other words classic divide and rule.

Irrespective of divide and rule tactics the Muslim response should be to tactically outmanoeuvre Labour's NEC by ensuring the two are sat down and one Muslim advised to stand down ensuring a straight fight between one Muslim candidate and the Labour establishment candidate or the "electable candidate" as Peter Kenyon describes in his interesting article about how Labour serve up their preferred choice. Up and down the country Labour selection of candidates most notably in Bradford where Marsha Singh is now the MP has been largely based on dividing Muslim member votes thus ensuring we end up with very few Muslims standing in winnable seats for Labour.

For those Oldham Muslims observing this internal Labour election process how supine you must feel when you have no say on who your next MP will be because you are not a member of the Party. The real election is not the actual bye election but the selection of labour's candidate but since you have not joined a political party you have no say or choice in this crucial selection. LM has been covering Oldham for months however, I deliberately avoided calling on Oldham Muslims to join Labour in the full knowledge that should there have been a rush of new Muslim members, Labour's establishment would immediately have placed the party in special measures and simply appointed a candidate.

I once again congratulate Labour's establishment for appearing to outmanoeuvre the Muslim interests by choosing two Muslims who look more like waiters from a curry house rather than serious candidates like Afzal Khan. No surprise that Norma Stephenson is at the center of all this anti Muslim intrigue after her role in the Lutfar Rahman stitch up where she supported an investigation and ultimate suspension of Rahman. However, at this late stage my plea to both Muslim candidates and to the wider Oldham Muslim community is to ensure one Muslim candidate is advised to stand down.