The little creature in the photo is a few millimetres long. It belongs to a group called troglobites that have evolved to live in absolute darkness. Or, depending on your point of view, some god decided that this species live for millions of years in absolute darkness. Even the humble troglobite has worked out that Labour is going to win back the Bethnal Green and Bow seat in the next General Election. And it lives in a cave. In Australia.
Sitting MP George Galloway has been invisible in the constituency since Christmas. Neither his own nor the Respect website give much clue to his whereabouts. The local paper reported last week that he became a father again but that does not explain his absence.
By contrast the much unloved Oona King has been popping up everywhere from light entertainment shows on BBC2 to a lobby of the Commmons with a group of local schoolboys on behalf of something called the “Make Space” campaign. She’s also been appointed to the chair of Coventry University’s Institute of Community Cohesion. Another couple of years of that type of thing and she’ll be in the House of Lords.
King would pretty definitely be electoral poison for the local Labour Party. So the East End Advertiser reports that the battle is now on between former council leader Helal Abbas, Luftur Rahman and London Assembly member John Biggs. It is a pretty uninspiring field with no meaningful political differences involved.
My guess, and it is utterly uninformed speculation, is that a similar type of “discussion” has opened up inside Respect. Only two things are certain. Galloway’s absenteeism has severely damaged the organisation’s electoral prospects and, just like in the Labour wrangle, high political theory won’t figure large in the selection battle.
Liam redux 
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