Tag Archives: parmjit singh gill

Why did the Lib Dem Leicester South candidate quits after five days?

2:00pm Wed March 23rd
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On his selection last week, the Liberal Democrats’ candidate for the Leicester South by-election told the world:

“I would never turn my back on the very people who put their trust in me.”

So why did Parmjit Singh Gill quit after just five days? Suspiciously enough, Lib Dem pressers attempted to bury the announcement during PMQs and the run up to Osborne’s budget address. It seems Mr Singh, previously the MP for the constituency for less than a year following a by-election in 2004, has suddenly discovered he has a young family!

Given much reflection and after talking with my family, it is with regret that I have decided to stand down as a candidate for the by-election

I remain committed to the people of Leicester and am proud to represent the Liberal Democrats, but I have a very young family and I fear the toll that fighting the by-election with all the commitment and dedication it deserves would be too much.

I have decided instead to concentrate on representing the people of Stoneygate as a councillor, as I have been proud to do for the last eight years.

Erm, right. Gill has been replaced by the party’s former candidate for Harborough, Zuffar Haq.

Did Cowley Street think no one would notice?

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A decade of Liberal Democrat failure on black and Asian candidates?

11:34am Tue September 22nd
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Parmjit Singh Gill with Charles Kennedy

Charles Kennedy with Parmjit Singh Gill: the only ethinc minority candidate ever selected by the Liberal Democrats in a winnable seat?

The post earlier this week about the lack of any ethnic minority canidates in the Lib Dems’ top 25 target seats generated a bit of a stir. A reader has been in touch to point out that Parmjit Singh Gill, the Liberal Democrat’s only ethnic minority MP ever, was originally selected to fight the Leicester South constituency back in 2000.

May 2010 will see Gill’s fourth attempt at the seat. Given his longevity as the PPC there and the failure of anyone else to break through for the Liberals, the party may be leaving themselves open to the accusation that they have failed to select a new ethnic minority candidate for a winnable seat for a whole decade!

You know you’re in trouble when the Tories are outflanking you on minority selection.

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Hideously white: no ethnic minority candidates for Liberal Democrats in top 25 target seats

9:17am Mon September 21st
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Nick Clegg, Lynne Featherstone and Parmjit Singh Gill

Last year the Liberal Democrat frontbencher Jenny Willot had the cheek to claim that “Labour are failing on ethnic minority employment”. Perhaps the so-called ‘real opposition’ should start by employing some ethnic minorities on their own green benches?

As Iain Dale blogged yesterday, Liberal Democrats do not have a single MP (or MEP for that matter) from a black or Asian background. The post was in response to comments from Lynne Featherstone, who was asked why this was the case:

“We don’t have any safe seats where you can just place people, you have to earn your spurs in the Lib Dems.” – Lynne Featherstone

Featherstone’s complacency clearly runs through the party’s top brass, which has no ethnic minority candidates in their top 25 target seats and only one in a conceivably winnable constituency. Plumbing the dark depths of the Liberal Democrats top 100 PPCs only turns up a total of just four minority candidates. In contrast, Labour have 12 black and asian MPs already. The Conservatives have two with an expection of  increasing this significantly in May 2010.

The only ethnic minority Liberal Democrat MP was Parmjit Singh Gill. Gill won a by-election in their current 29th target seat of Leicester South 2004 only to be beaten by Labour a year later at the general election.  He is contesting the constituency once more and a swing of 4.4% away from Labour would overturn a majority of 3,725 and see Gill returned to Westminster again. Assuming the Tories hold off marginal challenges from the Liberals, a swing of this magnitude would see Cleggover gain ten seats.

But no one else has a hope in hell. Zuffar Haq would need to unseat Tory Edward Garnier in Harborough (target #31), who, completely untainted by the expenses scandal, is sitting pretty with a majority of 3,892 and an inevitable national swing to the Conservatives. The other two PPCs are Afzal Anwar in Pendle (target #53) and Qassim Afzal in Manchester Gorton (target #73).

Gregg Dyke once said that the BBC was “hideously white”.

You can add the Liberal Democrats to that list.

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