MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy shunted out of Streatham to make way for the returning New Labour Golden Boy Steve Reed

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour MP for Streatham, appears to have been shunted out of her constituency in a move to accommodate New Labour Golden Boy Steve Reed.

Ribeiro-Addy has contacted all local party members telling them that it has been “decided” that she will contest the new Lambeth Central seat instead.

Moving into her existing patch is the returning Reed. The ex-Leader of Lambeth Council is keen to head home to the more familiar ground of the new Streatham and Norbury ward.

If you think Lambeth Labour has a few little local difficulties, then this is nothing compared to the meltdown of Croydon Labour. It appears that Reed wants to disassociate himself from the effective bankruptcy of Croydon at the hands of his own party.

Reed is also now a prominent Shadow Cabinet Minister. He has climbed the Westminster greasy pole since first landing the Croydon North seat in 2012.

He is currently the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor. Labour’s NEC is also keen for Reed to be guaranteed a safe seat ahead of the next general election when the party expects to form a government.

Ribeiro-Addy has made it quite clear she had been forced into making the move. Writing to party members, the outgoing Streatham MP said:

“I’ve been made aware that papers have been sent out to the NEC to indicate which MPs will represent the new seats. I wanted you to hear from me first, that whilst in an ideal world I would love to continue representing our area in its entirety, it has been decided that I will stand as Labour’s candidate for the new ‘Lambeth Central’ seat.”

You get the impression that it wasn’t decided by Ribeiro-Addy herself.

This game of political musical chairs are a consequence of the parliamentary boundary changes that are expected to be confirmed in July.

Lambeth Central is a new constituency which includes old Larkhall, Ferndale, and Clapham Town wards previously in Vauxhall, plus Tulse Hill, Brixton Hill, Thornton and Clapham Common which are currently in the Streatham constituency.

Streatham and Norbury will cover the Streatham town centre wards plus Norbury, bits of Thornton Heath and Upper Norwood.

Dulwich and West Norwood will add the Coldharbour and Herne Hill wards. Vauxhall gains the Southwark wards of Newington and Camberwell Green.

It seems that Reed’s wish to be the MP for Streatham may finally become reality. He first stood to become the Labour PPC in 2008 when he was the Leader of Lambeth Council.

He lost out on the vote to Chuka Umunna who was seen by party members as being the left wing choice – a comment in itself that highlights Reed’s own blend of Labour party politics.

Reed might find the Streatham CLP not quite the smooth passage that he had hoped for. The CLP still maintains a large body of support from members who joined to help support Jeremy Corbyn.

Residents in Lambeth remember Reed for many things whilst he was Leader of the Council. He was first elected as a Councillor in the old Town Hall ward in 1998. Four years later and he became the Leader of the Opposition after Jim Dickson’s led Labour lost the election.

Reed regained control of Lambeth for Labour in 2006. He also enjoyed a successful 2010 local election campaign with Labour gaining seats from the LibDems and Conservatives.

One of Reed’s highlights at Lambeth Town Hall was rebranding the Council as a Co-operative Council. He set up a Citizen’s Commission – that didn’t include any citizens, only high ranking Labour Cabinet members.

In 2012 Reed ordered apolitical Council officers to access the emails of his fellow Labour Councillor, Kingsley Abrams, a left wing Councillor in Vassall ward.

Reed found himself in his own spot of bother when he was found by the Standards Committee to have breached Lambeth’s Code of Conduct whilst he was Leader.

in 2009 Reed used his own personal blog to try and discredit Cllr Betty Evans-Jacas after she defected from Labour to the Conservatives. He shared in the public domain personal financial information about his former colleague.

More recently and Reed used some particularly clumsy language in a tweet. He described a Jewish Tory donor as a “puppet master.”

Update: Brixton Buzz has received the following from the office Bell Ribeiro-Addy:

Far too much is being read into this sentence in particular: “whilst in an ideal world I would love to continue representing our area in its entirety, it has been decided that I will stand as Labour’s candidate for the new ‘Lambeth Central’ seat.” The reason Bell’s not representing the whole area isn’t a consequence of internal machinations, it’s the result of Streatham being split right down the middle into two new constituencies. The reason it says “it has been decided” is because her standing as the candidate is subject to NEC approval.