Labour has been accused of “not putting up a fight” against Nigel Farage in Clacton after the party’s candidate was instructed to leave the constituency after “distracting” from Keir Starmer’s campaign.
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, 27, who works for Labour’s equalities team, was installed by the party last month to contest the seat, weeks before Farage changed his mind and decided to stand in the Essex constituency.
However, Owusu-Nepaul attracted attention on social media after he was photographed bumping into the Reform UK leader at an opening of a new food truck in Frinton earlier this month, with pictures going viral.
The Guardian reported last week that dozens of Labour candidates have been blocked from accessing the party’s canvassing systems, which help them drum up support from voters, because they were deemed not to be campaigning enough in target seats.
Chris Bee, another member of the local party, said: “Our candidate gets some real traction and with a week-and-a-bit to go they pull him out and will not allow him back into the constituency to fight for a place in this area’s most important election in a generation.
“I’m concerned there will be follow-on questions: members, supporters and more worryingly donators will be both angry and upset that it appears like the party that they have a great hope in isn’t doing anything to show a battle front to what many see as a catastrophe not only for Clacton, but for the parliamentary system entirely.”
The original article contains 645 words, the summary contains 243 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Labour has been accused of “not putting up a fight” against Nigel Farage in Clacton after the party’s candidate was instructed to leave the constituency after “distracting” from Keir Starmer’s campaign.
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, 27, who works for Labour’s equalities team, was installed by the party last month to contest the seat, weeks before Farage changed his mind and decided to stand in the Essex constituency.
However, Owusu-Nepaul attracted attention on social media after he was photographed bumping into the Reform UK leader at an opening of a new food truck in Frinton earlier this month, with pictures going viral.
The Guardian reported last week that dozens of Labour candidates have been blocked from accessing the party’s canvassing systems, which help them drum up support from voters, because they were deemed not to be campaigning enough in target seats.
Chris Bee, another member of the local party, said: “Our candidate gets some real traction and with a week-and-a-bit to go they pull him out and will not allow him back into the constituency to fight for a place in this area’s most important election in a generation.
“I’m concerned there will be follow-on questions: members, supporters and more worryingly donators will be both angry and upset that it appears like the party that they have a great hope in isn’t doing anything to show a battle front to what many see as a catastrophe not only for Clacton, but for the parliamentary system entirely.”
The original article contains 645 words, the summary contains 243 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!