Labour party rank-and-file members in London’s East End have chosen Hackney MP Diane Abbott, who campaigned to end child obesity when she was Shadow Public Health Minister, as one of three shortlist candidates to run for Mayor of London next year.
A packed meeting of Bethnal Green & Bow constituency party members held last night at Bethnal Green’s St Margaret’s House centre selected her along with Sadiq Khan.
Neighbouring Poplar & Limehouse constituency party voted earlier in the week for Tessa Jowell and Sadiq Khan.
Abbott, 61, has been MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the Commons. She was appointed Shadow Public Health Minister in 2010, after her unsuccessful bid in the Parliamentary Labour leadership contest won by Ed Miliband.
She used the post to campaign against child obesity and met pupils and parents the following summer when Manorfield Primary school in Bromley-by-Bow signed up to an after-school health awareness programme.
The MP is now on Labour’s shortlist to run for mayor of London next year, along with Tessa Jowell, Keran Kerai, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Neeraj Patil, Gareth Thomas and Christian Wolmar.
Each constituency party can nominate two names—one man, one women. Candidates need nominations from five of London’s 74 constituency Labour parties to make the shortlist.
Constituencies and affiliates have until Wednesday to put forward nominations. Party members vote on the shortlist in a Primary election after that.
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