At their leadership nomination meeting, Ealing Central and Acton constituency Labour party members voted to support Owen Smith rather than Jeremy Corbyn by a small majority. That suggests they're unlikely to want to replace their present MP, Rupa Huq, for coming out against Corbyn this time round (despite nominating him first time round), unless the balance of the membership changes as new members join. In any event, the processes for selecting Labour MPs are well established and replacing one mid-parliament is far from easy. Whether Rupa will be prepared to support JC now he's been re-elected by the membership with a greater mandate we don't yet know, but that's a dilemma for all our local MPs. Steve Pound is on record as preferring Angela Eagle to Owen Smith when that choice was available, so we can safely assume he wasn't a Corbyn supporter. And Ruth Cadbury, who also didn't support Corbyn, has a local constituency party in Brentford and Isleworth who did. If there's a snap election, Rupa will find herself defending her very small majority, and the electorate's perception of how our local Labour council is performing is bound to have some impact. If the 2018 boundary changes go through, Rupa will probably be a bit safer, as her new constituency would gain some gritty bits of Shepherds Bush and lose some leafy bits of Ealing.
Peter Evans ● 3135d