A former Labour frontbencher who was sacked by Keir Starmer after appearing on a picket line has been deselected by his local party.
Sam Tarry has been the party’s MP for Ilford South since 2019, but will not be the Labour candidate at the next general election.
He was defeated by 499 votes to 361 by local council leader Jas Athwal at a meeting of party members on Monday night.
Athwal said: “Today means Ilford can focus on the future and ensure that Westminster delivers for Ilford, that Ilford gets the investment it needs and deserves.”
Tarry’s defeat comes just three months after he was sacked as shadow transport minister after standing on a rail picket line in London.
Starmer later insisted he lost his job for conducting a round of unauthorised media interviews and “making up policy on the hoof”.
HuffPost UK understand Tarry will ask for a judicial review of the result over the use of the online voting system and “membership irregularities”.
This website revealed in July how Tarry – the boyfriend of Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner – had won the support of former leader Ed Miliband in his battle to hang on to the seat.
Tarry, who was Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign director when he retained the Labour leadership in 2016, lost a “trigger ballot” of local branches in his constituency in July.
At the time, he accused “factional elements of the party machine” of targeting left-wing candidates and MPs.
After tonight’s result was announced, a senior Labour source told HuffPost UK: “One of the key Corbyn lieutenants absolutely blown away. Righting wrongs.”
After the result came in, Athwal said: “My family, my local party, has supported me through thick and thin in recent years. I could not be more grateful for their belief in me. Our positive campaign is what I will be taking into the next election as Labour ends 13 years of Tory misrule.”
Tarry said: “I’m incredibly disappointed in this result, mostly for all my committed volunteers and the wonderful people of Ilford South.
“I intend to issue a further statement tomorrow on the process and outcome.”
Labour MP Wes Streeting, a prominent backer of Athwal, welcomed the result.
He said: “Jas will be a superb representative for Ilford South. His is an Ilford story – the boy who came from the Punjab and built an education, successful businesses, and a wonderful family here.
“He’s led Redbridge Labour to three unprecedented victories because he’s a local resident who fights as hard for our community as he would for his own family.
“I look forward to working with Jas as Ilford South’s next Labour MP.”
