Labour candidate blocked from standing following 'questions over social media posts'
30 May 2024, 07:04
Former Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen has not been endorsed by the party for a seat in north east London following questions over posts she allegedly liked on social media.
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Ms Shaheen, who was expecting to run for the Chingford and Woodford Green seat in north east London, has not been selected by Labour.
Reports suggested Ms Shaheen would be suspended by the party after she allegedly liked a series of posts on X that downplayed anti-Semitism accusations.
She was called to a meeting with a panel of Labour's National Executive Committee on Tuesday in which they highlighted posts which raised questions about her suitability as a candidate.
One post said: "Every time you say something even mildly critical of Israel, you're immediately assailed by scores of hysterical people who explain to you why you're completely wrong, how you're biased against Israel.
"Moreover, you can't easily ignore them because those are not just random people. They tend to be friends or people who move in the same circles as you. Those people are mobilised by professional organisations."
Ms Shaheen was selected as the Labour candidate for the seat in 2018 and again in 2022. She narrowly lost the seat to Sir Iain Duncan Smith in the 2019 election.
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She told the BBC she “thought” she was going to be the candidate for the constituency but received an email on Wednesday evening reportedly claiming she would “frustrate Labour’s purpose”.
Ms Shaheen, who is on the left of the Labour Party, said she does not remember liking the post in question.
She said: “I know what's wrong with it, of course, the line that's there about 'they're in professional organisations', it plays into a trope and I absolutely don't agree with that and I'm sorry about that.
"And I expressed that I was sorry in that meeting yesterday over my crying baby but that's one tweet.
"I've organised an interfaith vigil with a local Rabbi after the attacks, Hamas's attack."
Ms Shaheen also said she was in a "state of shock" and offered an emotional apology to her supporters.
