I reckon the fact that he will try and pick those new candidates and build up his own power base.

Vaz is the archetypal wide boy, the sooner Leicester and the Labour party get rid of this shameless, self-serving, bald cretin…the better

In my local constituency Labour have no chance of winning. Its always a fight between the Lib Dems and Tories, so what do Labour do? They field an asian candidate just for the sake of it knowing fully well he’s got no chance of winning. I would like to see more winnable seats with asian or black candidates.

pnnvotbp…

I’d vote for you Sunny, truly

I reckon Sunny should and indeed will run one day but not yet. Time is on his side (he’s still very young in MP terms), imo he’d better served raising his profile via his projects, getting stuck in a local community then going for it at the GE after next.

hahaha slurp slurp slurp

I wanna see an election between Sunny and Tony Lit — Sikh baldhead versus Sikh playboy it would make great copy.

Completely, which is why we have such a bunch of monkeys running our country. Postive Discrimination, which I’m not a fan of, is overt discrimination. But the Labour party is running it not because they favour such discrimination (though Vaz does) but because it’s a tacit admission that there is plenty of hidden discrimination out there.

That subtle discrimination may be based on class, old boy networks, money, sex or race, but either way it’s there.

To be honest, most of the ethnic minorities I know who are on the verge of getting into good positions are there because they’re intelligent and savvy. The last thing we need is a bunch of Keith Vaz’s buddies in power.
*shudder*

Now the all women shortlist has resulted in no grey suited men over 60 being in the hunt. This is progress.

The quality of the candidates is extremely high from the all women shortlist.

I have never met a racist in my life in the Party…..

So why is special treatment for BME candidates fair?

(Am open to persuasion)

Plus its an all women shortlist.

The underlying assumption therefore is that party members are so irredeemably racist and sexist that we can’t be trusted to put aside such prejudices and select the best and brightest.

Recently I looked at the profiles of councillors from a London borough particularly those from BME communities. What most surprised me was how certain counsellors sat in on this that and the other committee, when I have witnessed them at meetings sat on their backsides contributing nothing! Do we really want BME counsellors or politicians just because they may look like us? Is it a worry if a person puts themselves forward because it’s a good career move for them? Should we blame BME candidates for being ‘careerist’ when the white middle classes have used similar ploys for generations?

Er… Yes… That’s why any form of discrimination is wrong. quite apart from being morally bankrupt, it dilutes the talent pool. Any form of selection if it is to be effective must be based upon the competence of the candidate to conduct the task for which they are being selected and nothing else. Any political party that decides it wants non-whites only on a short-list is being racist – but then, I came to expect nothing less from the Labour party, it’s in part why I left.

” I’m also worried such discrimination may deliver people of sub-standard merit to Parliament. But given the existing crop we have, quality would probably not be substantially reduced.”

Heh. You should stand Sunny.