The Labour Party is set to investigate the events that led to Newcastle’s council leader being deselected.
Nick Forbes suffered a seismic defeat on Tuesday night that has thrown his political future into severe doubt.
The senior Labour figurehead, who has led the council for more than a decade, was denied reselection in his Arthur’s Hill ward at a branch meeting, where party members voted by a margin of 13 to four in favour of nominating local activist Abdul Samad instead.
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It means that Coun Forbes cannot stand in May’s local elections unless he is parachuted in to contest another seat elsewhere in Newcastle.
But even if he could do that, there would still be massive questions about the 48-year-old’s ability to carry on as leader after such a damaging episode.
Labour sources suggested soon after the council leader’s defeat that he or his political allies may seek to challenge the result and have it overturned, amid a major rift in the party.
ChronicleLive now understands that Labour North has received complaints regarding the selection process and will be investigating.
It has been claimed that the Arthur’s Hill Labour branch may have breached party rules by failing to give seven days’ notice of a challenge to Coun Forbes’ seat ahead of the selection meeting.
Lewis Atkinson, secretary of the Tynemouth Constituency Labour Party (CLP), alleged on Twitter that the meeting “sounds like a no-notice ambush outside the rules rather than following due and democratic process”.
A source within Newcastle Labour’s Local Campaign Forum also confirmed that several complaints had been received due to concerns about the meeting and said: “The whole process needs to be investigated.”
They added that Coun Forbes had “no idea” he was about to be challenged before the meeting and claimed that the exercise had been “totally unfair”.
However, that version of events has been strongly denied by those on the opposite side of the party divide. Other sources have insisted that the candidate shortlisting and selection in Arthur's Hill amounted to "normal practice" for the region and that Coun Forbes would have been aware of the potential for him to be challenged.
ChronicleLive did contact the Newcastle Central CLP, which is thought to have organised Tuesday’s meeting, for a response but had received no reply at time of writing, while Labour North declined to issue a comment on the accusations.
Coun Forbes also declined to comment. He had earlier issued a statement saying that he was “immensely sad” at the result and would “take some time” to consider his future.
He did not reference the prospect of a complaint or trying to overturn the result in his statement, in which he congratulated Mr Samad on his victory and wished him “every success”.
Tuesday’s damaging loss was the latest in a string of internal Labour battles that Coun Forbes has fought over recent years.
He managed to survive a leadership contest in May 2021, but saw his long-standing deputy Joyce McCarty ousted.
The long-serving councillor, considered a moderate and a close ally of Sir Keir Starmer, was also beaten by left-wing challenger Jamie Driscoll in Labour’s North of Tyne mayoral nomination race in 2019.
A Labour source described Mr Samad as being more left wing than the council leader he has deposed and said he pledged at Tuesday’s branch meeting that Arthur’s Hill would be his only priority if elected, in contrast to Coun Forbes’ numerous regional and national responsibilities.
He is also Labour’s leader on the Local Government Association, a member of the party’s National Executive Committee, and attends shadow cabinet.
