LABOUR are fighting anger within their own ranks after blocking their own candidate from campaigning against Nigel Farage – with reports saying he has been barred from even returning to the constituency where he is standing.
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul has reportedly “upset” Labour officials and was instructed to leave the constituency of Clacton after gaining traction for viral social media posts.
The 27-year-old, who works for Labour’s equalities team, was selected by the party last month to run for the seat weeks before Farage changed his mind and decided to stand in the General Election.
Owusu-Nepaul's campaign had been gathering traction on social media after pictures of him bumping into the Reform UK leader at an opening of a food truck earlier in June went viral.
He also had a string of successful social media posts around his fashion choices while on the campaign trail, as he was pictured canvassing in a Burberry trench coat and pastel shirts which led to him being covered by men's lifestyle magazines.
The Labour man has since been “seconded” to the West Midlands while local campaigners have been banned from printing leaflets, blocked from using campaigning software to canvas, and had access to their campaign social media accounts removed, according to The Guardian.
It is reported that Labour regards Clacton as an unwinnable seat as the party managed only 15% of the vote in 2019.
However, according to the Guardian, members of Clacton’s constituency Labour party (CLP) were expecting a “well planned but low energy” campaign.
But Owusu-Nepaul's campaign has been sidelined after Labour bosses had been angered over the attention the Clacton candidate was receiving online.
“At one point [Owusu-Nepaul] was getting more retweets than Keir Starmer. The officials were furious with him and said he was distracting [from] Starmer’s campaign,” a campaign source told the Guardian.
Tracey Lewis, a Labour activist from Clacton, quit the CLP over the treatment of Owusu-Nepaul after he was sent to campaign in the West Midlands.
She said: “I’m a lifelong Labour supporter and will continue to be even though I’ve quit my place on the CLP, but if they can’t put a fight up against Nigel Farage, then who are they fighting for?”
Another member of the local party, Chris Bee, said: “Our candidate gets some real traction and with a week-and-a-bit to go they pull him out and will not allow him back into the constituency to fight for a place in this area’s most important election in a generation.
"This is absolutely disgusting on every level.”
In a letter to Labour’s general secretary, David Evans, Owusu-Nepaul’s election agent Martin Suker said: “Reform UK stands for everything we the Labour party stand against … and I’m struggling to come to terms that it appears the party doesn’t even want to be seen to be putting up a fight.
“Jovan was told [by an official] to never come back to Clacton, and yesterday, was instructed to move to the West Midlands region.
“I’m concerned there will be follow-on questions: members, supporters and more worryingly donators will be both angry and upset that it appears like the party that they have a great hope in isn’t doing anything to show a battle front to what many see as a catastrophe not only for Clacton, but for the parliamentary system entirely.”
It was reported Suker said the local party had requests for leaflets denied and access to the canvassing system removed.
“Now I have no candidate to put in front of the people for them to see us at least trying to ‘Save Clacton’,” he added.
“This could be very damaging to the party’s image.”
Keir Starmer has denied leaving the constituency to Reform, telling media: “We want to take the fight to the Tories and Reform wherever they are, we are not backing down in Clacton, we are not backing down anywhere across the country.”
Last week it was reported that dozens of Labour candidates across the UK had been blocked from accessing the party’s canvassing systems because they were deemed not to be campaigning enough in target seats.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “We are working hard to deliver as many Labour MPs as possible in the General Election and our campaigners are bringing our message of change to people across the country.”
