Waltham Forest Labour begins the selection process for the next council elections…and Momentum bottles it

The closing date for applications to stand for Labour at the next council election has just passed, and fevered rumours are circulating about who has, and has not, put themselves forward.

I understand that three sitting councillors have called it a day – Peter Barnett (most famous for his late night Facebook spat with Cllr. Dhedi), Angie Bean, and one time big-shot Johar Khan (who appears still to be suspended – what on earth did he do that it has taken so long to clear up?).

Meanwhile, the Momentum push has spectacularly fizzled out. Private caucus followed private caucus, but despite ever more desperate calls to arms, the great bulk of the comrades declined to stand, and in the end, Momentum is fielding a list which can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Veteran lefties are chuckling into their pints of mild. The Momentum types may be accomplished keyboard warriors, but when it comes to the hard work of fighting elections, and oh horror of horrors, meeting people on the doorstep whose views are unreconstructed, well, that’s clearly another matter.

And to deepen the wound, Owen Jones, once the darling of the Momentum insurgency, has just announced he is retiring from social media because of the increasing sectarian abuse he has suffered (order-order.com/2017/03/11/owen-driven-off-twitter-left-wing-haters).

Never mind, there is always the next anti-Israel demonstration to look forward to….