Labour Select Candidate For Reading West

Naz Sarkar, a 33 year old Waltham Forest Borough councillor, has been selected to be Labour's next candidate in Reading West.

The political hopeful has won selection at the third attempt and will be attempting to follow Martin Salter into parliament as Labour look to hold on to the seat for the fourth consecutive term. To find out more about his position on the issues you can find out more on his official website and campaigning blog.

Conservative attack dog Cllr Richard Willis gets his barbs in early accusing Labour of parachuting him into the seat, despite the fact that Mr Sarkar teaches at Denefield school.

Apparently, according to Cllr Willis, this will "ensure an interesting contest" - perhaps he is alluding to the campaigning style of Labour in Waltham Forest which managed to secure a 6 percentage point raise in turnout for his close colleague.

Jane Griffiths clearly makes a similar reference as she coined Cllr Sarkar's nickname - 'Nasty' Naz. She also suggests the local Labour party are looking for a weak candidate who will not exert a controlling dominance over their council agenda to the detriment of their own future ambitions.

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Update: Adam Hewitt provides a quote from Cllr Sarkar after his selection. He said "If we can get our message out, I'm confident."

Jane offers a word of warning to Mr Sarkar that he will face internal opposition from Mr Salter who apparently experienced a late change of mind and wanted to be reselected.

Howard Thomas has also fallen for the line that Mr Sarkar "has been parachuted in".



Reading Guide offers the comment that Mr Sarkar was only able to win the selection "with the help of a prodigious schedule of doorstepping the 200 or so people eligible to vote, and successful garnering of postal votes."

Oranjepan asks:
Do the good burghers of Reading West need or want an 'interesting' campaign?