Lauren Townsend, a Labour Milton Keynes councillor and cabinet member has been blocked from standing as a Labour MP for her own seat. This was allegedly done for showing support for an opposition party by ‘liking’ a tweet from Nicola Sturgeon on her -ive covid test. Aydin Dikerdem found that candidates who have been approved for the selection have also liked tweets from other party members. As he said, this should be a permitted act of free speech. The decision to bar Lauren is biased, probably improper, potentially based on unlawfully and unfairly obtained data and designed to create a chilling effect. She had been nominated by several unions which should guarantee her a place on the long list, how long will they put up with this?
It took me 2 mins to find the front runner has liked tweets from the West Midlands Conservative Mayor, the Editor of Conservative Home & a Senior Correspondent from Guido Fawkes this month. He obviously shouldn’t be blocked for this (and not an attack on him) but it’s unjust
— Aydin Dikerdem (@AydinDikerdem) October 22, 2022