LEFT WINGER TO REPRESENT LABOUR SHOCK

16-11-2007

As the runners and riders jostle for the Princes End seat in Sandwell - vacated by expelled BNP councillor James Lloyd - The Stirrer hears an intriguing tale of Labour party in-fighting.

Local activists wanted to select Graham Howes for next month's by-election, but were over-ruled by the party's local government committee who insisted on an all-women shortlist.

It thus came down to a "battle of the wives". Olwyn Jones (wife of Sandwell Cabinet member Ian Jones) carried right-wing hopes and the support of West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey.

She was opposed by Delia Edwards (wife of Greets Green and Lyng councillor John Edwards) who was the left wing choice.

Edwards carried the day, giving a bloody nose to MP Bailey, not least because party members resented the imposition of a female only list and were determined to deliver a sharp rebuke to the party hierarchy.

Edwards would no doubt be a capable councillor, but is not exactly the kind of pliant "Brown Babe" New Labour bosses will have been hoping for.

The Greens, incidentally, have decided not to stand in an effort to keep the BNP out.

Other candidates are Beatrice Owen, the Conservative, a doughty campaigner for the Tipton Swimming Baths; Dorothy Brayshaw, the Liberal Democrat, and the BNP's Karen Parkes.

The by-election is on December 6.