Liam Conlon, son of Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray, has won the selection for Labour in ultra-marginal Beckenham & Penge. This won’t come as a surprise for anyone following the nepo baby’s attempts to get into Parliament over the last year. The seat is currently held by retiring MP Colonel Bob Stewart…
Conlon pipped Medical Aid for Palestinians CEO and vociferously anti-Israel Melanie Ward to the selection. Michael Crick reports the Gray campaign did particuarly well among postal and online votes. Conlon’s got a history of “boasting” about his mother’s role in Partygate in a bid to unseat Boris. Guido spotted his ambitions a mile off…
Guido hears Liam Conlon is considering going for the selection as Labour’s candidate in Beckenham, the constituency currently held by Conservative MP Bob Stewart. Conlon is the National Chair of the Labour Party Irish Society, and Vice Chair of the Lewisham West and Penge CLP. He is also Sue Gray’s son.
The Sun reported last week that Conlon had been on the campaign trail for Labour in Uxbridge, “boasting” about his mother’s role in Partygate in a bid to unseat Boris. Now it seems he’s thinking of taking things a step further…
On Friday afternoon Sky News broke the detail-light news that Boris and Sue Gray held a meeting about a month ago. Whilst co-conspirators might shrug, the media went mad; launching a weekend-long frenzy over who organised the meeting, its purpose, and suggesting there are now questions about whether Gray has been subjected to political interference. Once the Metropolitan Police didn’t issue any more fines to Boris, and the media realised Sue Gray wasn’t likely to dislodge Boris either, the anti-Boris media immediately switched tack and began casting doubt on her inquiry…
The media failed to get quite so het up a month ago when it emerged Sue Gray was being advised by a Brexit and Boris hating QC, Daniel Stilitz – the only external lawyer consulted by Gray, and name-checked at the start of the report. A card-carrying Labour Party member, Stilitz only deleted his social media accounts when Conservative Post noticed his tweets backing a second referendum, slamming the government, and encouraging people to sign up for Labour Party membership. Guido was tipped off that it might be interesting to look into who sanctioned Stiliz’s involvement – questions the Cabinet Office haven’t answered…
Sue Gray is hardly from a neutral political home either. Her son, Liam Conlon, is chair of the Labour Party’s Irish branch – a group that hosted Sir Keir for a talk and Q&A just two months ago. Conlon himself has been pictured alongside Starmer and even brought his mum along to meet Labour politicians in Parliament.
If the media’s seriously worried about Gray’s report not being politically neutral, they may want to factor all of this into their analysis…
