Congratulations.

Black Socialist Society is putting out a press release declaring it to be a sad day given that it was a winnable BME seat and blaming BME types for not uniting around one BME candidate

Yeh, the woman won!

Unsurprisingly the people putting out the BSS press release are black men.

I have to say that I am disappointed with the result in Walthamstow, and certainly it did not reflect the quality of performances on the day. I say this as someone who had fully expected to have Stella Creasy as either my first or second preference. I found the style of her performance completely over the top, starting with her introduction of herself as Stella Creasy Walthamstow C - L -P. She spoke with a rather shrill voice and annoyingly chose to sidestep many of her questions. Despite this I recognise she has certain qualities, but question her capacity to unite the local party. Clearly from looking at the results she generates little love from Pye supporters.
Hence why I supported Farmida Bi, who came second despite ceasing to campaign in the last few weeks. As an outsider and importanly as a Muslim she had the potential to pull together the factions in Walthamstow. She impressed many neutrals in the audience, but for reasons I cannot fathom lacked support amongst Muslim members.

In respect of the much talked about Hina Ansari suffice to say that a 'job' was done on her by members of the audience, exposing her lack of any real record in the party. One went too far though when he asked what her favourite William Morris picture was, after she had mentioned her support for the local WM gallery campaign. As for Marie Pye she performed very competently though I was struck by the very gentle questions she was lobbed.

Re: Stella Creasy wins in Walthamstow (#6)
by Andrea on Mon Nov 05, 2007 at 02:29:41 PM GMT I was told the various rounds result was:

1. Creasy
   
2. Bi
   
3. Ansari
   
4. Pye
   
5. Johnson
   
6. Dixon-Fyle
   
7. Etienne

Re: Stella Creasy wins in Walthamstow (#7)
by rupahuq on Mon Nov 05, 2007 at 04:30:31 PM GMT

Black Socialist Society is putting out a press release declaring it to be a sad day given that it was a winnable BME seat and blaming BME types for not uniting around one BME candidate

Re: Stella Creasy wins in Walthamstow (#8)
by themanwithaplan on Mon Nov 05, 2007 at 04:40:09 PM GMT

I doubt that "uniting round one BME candidate" would have made a difference on this occasion.

    Walthamstow  is fairly parochial in it's political stance, and I believed from the start that a local candidate would win.

    Since no BAME  candidate actually lives in the constituency - despite one claiming an E17 address - the members cast their vote(s) accordingly.

Re: Stella Creasy wins in Walthamstow (#9)

by SimonHH on Mon Nov 05, 2007 at 04:42:50 PM GMT

I'm not entirely sure what a 'BME type' is. The phrase has a whiff of Alf Garnett about it.

     As it happens, most of Hina Ansari's supporters switched to Creasey, in preference to Bi, in the final round. This would suggest that ethnicity issues weren't the deciding issue. It wasn't so much as a case of 'people wanting a BME candidate not deciding which one to vote for' as 'wanting a BME candidate not being a particularly powerful consideration'.

    I find the voting behaviour difficult to interpret. Farmida Bi is much politically closer to Hina Ansari than to Stella Creasey. Neither of them is 'local'. So it is difficult to see why people who had cast higher preference votes  for Ansari would rate Creasey above Bi. My suspicion is that fifth and sixth preferences are chosen more arbitrarily than, say, first and second.

Re: Stella Creasy wins in Walthamstow (#11)

by alexhilton on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 12:41:50 AM GMT

i think it's dangerous to start talking about "BME" seats for BME candidates - because white people would be disenfranchised in seats with large ethnic populations to our detriment. This would make it necessary to justify having Parmjit Dhanda in Gloucester for example. We should be about bringing people together, not creating dividing lines.

    I think there is a strong case for promoting more minority candidates, however, it would be divisive to put them all in inner cities when seats like Sedgefield and Easington are free to operate open shortlists and select white men.

Re: Stella Creasy wins in Walthamstow (#12)

by SimonHH on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 12:11:43 PM GMT

Spot on.

There are incompetent woman in parliament as much as there are incompetent men. Luckily, they are few but still they exist. I often wonder if we would have had Blair under AWS or Brown or Benn or the many many other good men in parliament. I take issue with the allegation that I am a misogynist because I oppose AWS, if anything I am selfish as it has prevented  me from applying for seats. I grew up in Ladywood, which will be AWS, I lived in Ilford (AWS), my neighbouring constituency of Walthamstow was AWS.  I am forced to apply to areas where I am not local and not known and where they have often selected a safe pair of hands, especially in current climate. As a BME, I am forced to apply to areas where there are no BME communities where my colour sadly becomes an issue. I accept that we do have exceptions, Gloucester being an example, but that was in a very different climate. I have spent many years building a profile and the ability to become (I Hope) a good MP but will be prevented from doing so by my sex and yes in some areas my colour. I stood for parliament at the last election, following the inevitable defeat the Chair (behind closed doors) told local members that they should have chosen a white candidate! I am not a misogynist, I want more woman in parliament but I also want a fair chance of becoming an MP.