Row as Labour imposes general election candidate with no Welsh connection

Martin Shipton

A row has erupted after the chief executive of a London-based think tank was made the general election candidate for a safe Labour seat in Wales.

Torsten Bell runs the Resolution Foundation, which researches issues relating to poverty. A panel appointed by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) has decided that he will be the party’s candidate in Swansea West on July 4.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that the seat’s incumbent MP Geraint Davies would not be standing for re-election because complaints alleging that he had sexually harassed a number of women remained unresolved. In line with an election timetable decided by the NEC, the choice of a new candidate for Swansea West was taken out of the hands of the local constituency Labour party (CLP) and delegated to the NEC panel.

Rob Stewart

A Welsh Labour insider told us that Swansea council leader Rob Stewart was seen as the obvious local choice for the candidacy.

The insider told us: “There’s little doubt that Rob would have been the choice of the CLP if they had been making the decision. He’s widely respected as one of the best local government leaders in Wales, and when Geraint was suspended because of the allegations he was facing it was assumed Rob would be the automatic choice to be the new candidate and MP.”

However, NationCymru has been told there were moves behind the scenes to install Huw David, until recently the leader of Bridgend council, as the Swansea West candidate. That, however, came to nothing, and it later emerged that Mr Bell had been chosen.

Anger

The decision has been greeted with anger by some party members. Labour activist Estelle Hart, whose mother Edwina Hart is a former Welsh Government Economy Minister, expressed her disgust on the social media channel X, stating: “If what I’m hearing about Swansea West and the imposition of a candidate whose connection to Wales, let alone Swansea, seems to be can [he] point to it on a map, the party can actually f*** off for this election”.

Mr Bell’s Wikipedia entry contains nothing to suggest he has any connection to Wales. It states: “Torsten Bell (b. 1982) is the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, an economic think tank. He was appointed in 2015, having been Ed Miliband’s head of policy and a Treasury civil servant who became special adviser to [former Labour Chancellor] Alistair Darling.

Bell’s parents are Clem Henricson, a policy analyst and activist, and Bill Bell, an academic and children’s rights advocate. His twin brother, Olaf, is a civil servant. Bell has been associated with the coordination of policy developments for the Labour Party. He has received recognition across various factions within the party for his attention to detail.

“Bell writes regularly about poverty and inequality in the United Kingdom,about the North–South divide in England and the levelling-up policy of the British government. He described the September 2022 United Kingdom mini-budget [delivered by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng during the brief period Liz Truss was Prime Minister] as ‘the biggest unforced economic policy error of my lifetime’.

“In November 2022, Bell was appointed Honorary Professor at the UCL [University College London] Policy Lab. In September 2023, Bell was named as the 10th most powerful left wing figure in the UK by the New Statesman.”

‘Asset’

A Labour source said: “Some people will complain about the selection of a candidate with no real connection to Wales, but so far as the NEC is concerned Swansea West is a safe Labour seat and they can slot in a new candidate who they believe will be an asset to the parliamentary party, as well as being loyal, of course.

“The rules of the party give the NEC the power to select candidates when a seat becomes free close to a general election. In fact, one of the most important duties of the NEC is to ensure there is a Labour candidate in every seat in Britain.”

Asked whether Mr Bell has any connection with Swansea or Wales, the Labour source who tipped us off about his selection said: “Not that I am aware of. He is very impressive.”

In 2019 Mr Davies had a majority of 8,116 over the second-placed Tory candidate. The seat has been in Labour hands since 1964.

The NEC will also be choosing a new candidate for Cardiff West, whose long serving MP Kevin Brennan says he decided over the Bank Holiday weekend not to seek re-election.