Mary Creagh

A FORMER MP whose name had cropped up as a possible new Labour candidate in Islington North has said Jeremy Corbyn would not win in the constituency as an independent.

Mary Creagh made the flat prediction as speculation swirled around Mr Corbyn’s name being on the ballot paper whether Sir Keir Starmer wanted it there or not.

Her own ambitions to lead the Labour Party came to a swift end when she put her name forward following Ed Miliband’s resignation in 2015. She only managed to secure support from around 10 MPs – well short of the 35 needed to join the process. Mr Corbyn went on to win that contest, but Ms Creagh made it clear earlier this month what she thought would happen if he was on the ballot paper as an independent next time in Islington North.

“No he wouldn’t”, she tweeted after the Unite union’s general secretary Sharon Graham recently suggested Mr Corbyn would still be victorious.

Ms Creagh was a councillor in Islington for seven years up until 2005 when she moved to become a Labour MP 160 miles away in Wakefield.

She lost her seat to the Tories in 2019. While national newspapers have suggested she had been identified as a possible candidate in Islington North, more recently there have been reports that she is interested in the vacancy for a candidate in Coventry North East – the town where she grew up.

Mr Starmer’s block on Mr Corbyn standing again has led to non-stop speculation this week over who would be willing to accept what some have characterised as a “poisoned chalice” to be a new Labour candidate.

Anybody without any local recognition has been warned that they will face a tough campaign even with a Labour majority of more than 26,000 – achieved by Mr Corbyn last time out.

While Islington’s large group of Labour councillors were staying silent over the developments this week – there was some suggestion that they had been expressly warned not to share any opinions to the press – it is not unthinkable that one or two of them could be persuaded to stand and follow a familiar route, from the Town Hall to the House of Commons.

That said, the case of the 2000 London Mayoral elections has been recalled a few times this week. Ken Livingstone had been barred from standing for Labour so stood – and won – as an independent. The then prime minister Tony Blair had pushed the late Frank Dobson to stand for Labour instead. Despite the former health secretary’s popularity in London, Mr Livingstone romped to victory.

But, with the Tories slumping in the polls, Mr Starmer is now the bookmakers’ favourite to become the next prime minister and it has been suggested that any drama in Islington North is now being calculated among his supporters as a small price to pay for an overall march to power and securing the keys to Number 10.