In this week's New Statesman, I argue that all minority shortlists would be a step backwards.

An alternative approach would seek to tackle barriers which candidates face across class, race and gender. Please share ideas about what that might mean in practice.

Whenever people talk about who the best candidate might be for a parliamentary selection, they talk up their local credentials. Black (African Caribbean) men have again been disenfranchised by the Labour Party with the decision to  hold an AWS in Walthamstow, following on from the AWS in West Ham, and the AWS in Hackney South.

In 1997, Peter Mandelson said “I say to the doubters, judge us after ten years in office. For one of the fruits of that success will be that Britain has become a more equal society. However, we will have achieved that result by many different routes, not just the redistribution of cash from rich to poor, which others choose as their own limited version of egalitarianism…” (Peter Mandelson, Labour’s Next Steps: Tackling Social Exclusion, Fabian Society 1997)

I posted this as a 'comment' on Patrick H's piece on race relations, but it was too long!