Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Peter Soulsby fears Labour could lose Leicester East to Keith Vaz


Sir Peter Soulsby, Leicester's elected Labour mayor, is not happy, reports the Guardian:

Keith Vaz could be re-elected as an MP because Labour is failing to highlight that he was disgraced in office amid drug and sex allegations, the Labour mayor of Leicester has said.

Peter Soulsby said he was “disappointed and frustrated” by his party’s complacency, which could allow the former Europe minister to win back his former seat of Leicester East.

Vaz, 67, is running a well-publicised and slick campaign as a One Leicester candidate to retake his old seat on 4 July in a multicultural area which is still reeling from Hindu-Muslim riots in 2022.

This weekend, Shilpa Shetty, a former Celebrity Big Brother winner and Bollywood actor, attracted a small crowd when she accompanied Vaz in an open-top Mercedes on a tour of local shops selling south Asian products.

If you want to know why the return of Keith Vaz would be unwelcome to many, I recommend the Controversies section of his Wikipedia entry.

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