Labour decision to bar councillor from shortlist for backing Corbyn 'sign the party has lost its way' says Plaid candidate

Martin Shipton

The Plaid Cymru candidate in the Caerphilly by-election has said he and his campaign team were astonished to learn that a senior Labour councillor had been barred from standing because he had supported Jeremy Corbyn when he was the party’s leader.

Lindsay Whittle said the decision to exclude Caerphilly council’s deputy leader Jamie Pritchard from the shortlist of would-be candidates was a sign that the Labour Party had lost its way.

The by-election, which will be held on October 23, is taking place because of the tragic death of Labour MS Hefin David in August.

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'Unbelievable'

Nation.Cymru has reported how a source told us: “At the selection meeting on Saturday morning, party members were very unhappy that Jamie Pritchard had been removed from the list of candidates. Some wrote his name on the ballot paper in protest, but obviously the votes were discounted.

“People found it unbelievable that Jamie was excluded for tweets he had posted that backed Jeremy Corbyn when Corbyn was the party leader. This is pure control freakery.”

After the meeting children’s publisher Richard Tunnicliffe was announced as the party’s candidate.

Our source told us: “If Jamie Pritchard had been allowed to stand, he would have won the nomination. Less than 30 local party members were at the selection meeting. I was told that Richard Tunnicliffe was declared the winner after just six people voted for him.”

We contacted Cllr Pritchard and told him what we had been told.

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'Respected'

He said: “I was very seriously affected by the death of Hefin David, who I respected very much and who I knew well. I’ve never thought previously of putting my name forward to stand as an MP or an MS. But a number of people encouraged me to do so in these circumstances, where we’re having to fight a crucial by-election. I decided to apply for the candidacy.

“But at about 8.30 on Friday evening - 14 hours before the selection meeting - I received a phone call from a Welsh Labour official who told me I was being excluded from the shortlist because of some tweets I wrote years ago.

“I didn’t post anything offensive and I’m not going to apologise for tweeting in support of Jeremy Corbyn at a time when he was the democratically elected leader of the party. I also see no reason to take the tweets down, as was suggested to me. These tweets are from years ago, I certainly haven’t tweeted anything in support of Jeremy Corbyn since he ceased being the leader [in April 2020], left the party and stood as an Independent.

“I was at the selection meeting and believe it is likely I would have won if I’d been allowed to stand. I’m frustrated by what has happened, but it’s nothing in comparison with the sense of loss I feel at the death of Hefin. Richard is a lovely fellow and of course I’ll be supporting him in the election campaign.”

Nation.Cymru found the tweets Cllr Pritchard wrote during the period when Mr Corbyn led the party and saw that they were clearly inoffensive.

'Astonished'

Lindsay Whittle, a former leader of Caerphilly council and ex-Assembly Member who is currently the Plaid Cymru opposition leader on the council, said: “We were having a campaign meeting on Sunday evening when the Nation.Cymru story about Jamie Pritchard being excluded from the Labour shortlist was published. We were all astonished.

“I have never heard anything like it before. There have been cases of candidates getting into trouble for criticising the party leader, but barring someone for supporting the leader is something new.

“I’ve always supported the leader of Plaid Cymru, whoever they are. It’s what you do.

“This is a sign of how much trouble Labour is in. Who is running the party? They’ve lost their way.”

Canvass returns

Cllr Whittle said: “I believe Labour will come third in the by-election. Our canvass returns are telling us it’s a battle between Plaid Cymru and Reform.

“There’s a lot of unhappiness within the Caerphilly Labour party. Most of them didn’t like the fact that Chris Evans [who formerly represented Islwyn] was imposed on them as their new Westminster candidate following boundary changes. A lot of them wouldn’t support him and didn’t even display a poster in their window or a placard in their garden.

“There are plenty of reasons for people to be unhappy with the Labour council, like their attempt to close libraries.

“A lot of people are telling us they’re voting for Plaid, but Reform is getting support. When we ask why, they say two words: ‘Small boats’. We ask them what they think the Senedd - or the Welsh Assembly, as many continue to call it - can do about that, and point out that it’s a London problem. We hope we can get across the message that Reform has nothing positive to offer.”

It’s understood that Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth will be campaigning in Caerphilly on Tuesday September 9.