Steve Reed, Brixton Hill councillor and leader of Lambeth council, has put himself forward for the Labour candidacy in the upcoming Croydon North by-election.
He is likely to be battling other strong Labour candidates including London Assembly Member Val Shawcross, a former leader of Croydon council, when the party announces its shortlist later tomorrow.
The by-election was triggered by the death of Labour MP Malcolm Wicks last month, aged 65.
Cllr Reed confirmed to the Blog that he had put his name forward, but said he would wait until the shortlist is announced by the Labour party before commenting further. “We’ll see what happens,” he said.
The final decision on who will stand for the parliamentary seat will be made by Croydon North members of the Labour party. The by-election itself is expected to take place on November 29.
Cllr Reed, who has led Lambeth council since 2006, is the driving force behind the authority’s co-operative council agenda and is widely understood to have ambitions to enter Westminster as a Member of Parliament.
At the last election Malcolm Wicks secured a majority of 16,428. The Labour candidate, when selected, will face Liberal Democrat hopeful Marisha Ray, Tory Andy Stranack and UKIP’s Winston McKenzie. Sasha Khan is expected to stand for the Green Party.
There is a more detailed report over on Inside Croydon.
I don’t think many of his constituents in Brixton Hill Ward will be sorry to see him go. The wonder is that he hasn’t already. Certainly he seems desperate to do so. Since his failed bid for Streatham some six years ago shows exactly how much interest Cllr Reed has in his actual electorate – and that when it came down to it Labour colleague new boy Cllr. Alex Holland actually got a higher vote than Reed at the last local elections, one can only suspect that a fair degree of personal hubris is at play here. The wonder is that he hasn’t resigned his position as ward councillor. The worry; that if he fails again, he will have no choice but to stay, as without our democratic vote as a somewhat very safe ward, the £40,000 pa position as Council Leader is untenable, and his “Political Career”, for it would appear he has no other, well… er…toast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1MCL9xin9Q
Perhaps people will relise that Reed and Lambeth Council dont care about them- they are there for thier careers not the needs of the people of Lambeth!
i hope he gets it, then maybe someone who actually cares about the needs of brixton people rather than the new labour project might be able to take over on the council.
Rather predictable move as he’s desperate to become an MP and apparently willing to abandon Lambeth just as we are getting to the interesting bit of running the cooperative council.
I would have thought that Shawcross stood more of a chance of being elected having had connections with Croydon in the past. And also being more human and approachable.
Watch Florence Nosegbe as well – equally driven and apparently desperate to be sitting on the green benches of the House of Commons