LONDON: A British Muslim Labour candidate who was blocked from standing in the July general election has quit after saying there is a “hierarchy of racism” in the party.
Faiza Shaheen was expected to contest the Chingford and Woodford Green seat, but said she had been penalized for speaking out against Islamophobia within the opposition party, The Independent reported on Tuesday.
She was told last week of her suspension after liking posts on social media that criticized Israel’s war in Gaza.
When the Labour National Executive Committee formalized the decision on Tuesday, Shaheen resigned from the party, opening a path to challenge, as an independent, her replacement Shama Tatler, a member of the Jewish Labour Movement.
Tatler was described by Shaheen as “someone not known or supported by most local members with no links to our community.”
Shaheen, an economist who specializes in inequality, described her blocking as a “sham process” based on “spurious reasons,” adding that she had suffered “unfair treatment, bullying and hostility” within Labour ranks.
“Being removed as a candidate has been cruel and devastating, especially after local voters and party members have placed so much faith in me,” she said.
“I cannot, in all conscience, continue to contribute to a party that seems to think so little of people like me and has moved so far away from my values.”
Labour has been accused of carrying out a “purge” against left-wing members of the party ahead of the July 4 election.
Momentum, a left-wing Labour pressure group, said the party, after “purging” Shaheen, has decided to “parachute in one of their own clique from outside the constituency.”
Shaheen said: “Since the Conservatives won power in 2010, I have used all the tools available to me — from my research to my activism — to fight them on public spending cuts, inequality and divisive narratives.
“That is why to leave the Labour Party now, on the cusp of finally seeing the Tories out of government and a time when I should be celebrating, is crushing.”
