Ruth Cadbury Avoids Reselection Contest
Overwhelming support for Brentford & Isleworth MP from local branches
Labour party members in the George and Devonshire
This Wednesday evening (2 October) over 100 members of the Chiswick Labour party crammed into the George and Devonshire pub to witness a trigger ballot which could potentially have seen Brentford & Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury facing a reselection contest.
In the event the vote in her favour was ‘overwhelming’ according to a spokesperson for the local Labour party who said that the level of support for the sitting MP was similarly high in the other branches of the party in the constituency.
In Chiswick 94 party members voted with Ruth Cadbury getting 85% of the vote. At the Brentford and Isleworth branch meeting her support was even higher with 88% support from the 100 members who participated.
Under new rules implemented by the party, only two of the four branches of the party in the constituency needed to vote in favour to trigger a full reselection contest.
Ruth Cadbury has issue a statement to party members ahead of the contest saying, “In 2013 as Labour members you placed your trust in me to be your Candidate. Six years on I believe that I and Labour have gained the trust of local people.
“Now we face another General Election very possibly in less than two months and we face a very different political landscape. The Liberals and Greens have named their candidates and the Tories will very soon. We should be spending the next weeks and months campaigning to hold this seat and we cannot afford to spend time looking inwards or to show any sign that we are not united.”
The new trigger ballot process has already been used to enable challenges to sitting MPs. Earlier this month local party branches decided to hold a new contest in the Hull North seat for which Diana Johnson is currently the MP and veteran MP Margaret Hodge also faces a challenge.
Rupa Huq MP will also be subject to the process in the Ealing Central and Acton constituency although the dates of the relevant meetings have not yet been reported to the media.
October 3, 2019