‘I am not walking away’ says Dumped Labour Councillor Jewitt

Blue Labour: Longstanding Labour Councillors are Being Deselected for Tories in Croydon

A longstanding Labour Councillor, who has served the local Croydon Labour party for nearly two decades, has told a local newspaper that she won’t be walking away. Karen Jewitt, who was seen as Labour’s voice against domestic violence in the borough, was axed from her position in favour of Hamida Ali, from Purley. "I think Hamida was looking for a winnable seat and I was the casualty,” said Jewitt.

Labour leader and former ward colleague Tony Newman heaped praise on Ms. Jewitt but also warned that ‘and there will undoubtedly be one or more very hard decisions made.’ This was seen by local Labour activists as a warning that they could be replaced in favour of new blood, possibly more former Tories.

One decision that wasn’t difficult for Tony Newman was supporting former Tory Andrew Pelling to lead Labour’s Croydon campaign in the marginal ward of Waddon. It is widely expected that if Mr Pelling was to win the seat he would hold the balance of power in the Labour group and be in a good position to become a Cabinet member or even unseat Newman, gaining complete control of the Labour group.

All Change for Labour: Jewitt Out, Pelling In

Lifelong Labour activist Karen Jewitt has failed to win selection in Woodside, a constituency she has served in for a number of years. The decision was taken by local Labour Party activists and has shocked Croydon’s political community.

The news was enthusiastically tweeted out via Inside Croydon, a blog of which former Tory and now Labour candidate Andrew Pelling is special correspondent.

The Tweet announced that Ms Jewitt ‘fails to win selection.’ It was tweeted at a Guardian journalist and the editor of Labour List, presumably to spread the news as far as possible.

Mr Pelling was announced as the new face of the Labour Party last week, and received solid support from Labour leader Tony Newman, who was until recently a ward colleague of Ms Jewitt.