LABOUR party staff could be forced to undergo DNA tests in a bid to uncover who tampered with ballot boxes during a row over selection for a safe seat.
In a move that has been labelled “bonkers” by insiders, Ray Collins, Labour’s general secretary, wants to collect samples from all workers at the party’s Victoria Street headquarters who could have been involved in spoiling ballot papers in the bitter contest for the constituency of Erith and Thamesmead.
Among the candidates running for selection was Georgia Gould, 22, the daughter of Lord Gould, one of the architects of New Labour. The selection process was marred by claims that she was being “parachuted” into the safe seat by the Labour party machine and being given unfair help by powerful figures including Alastair Campbell and Tessa Jowell.
A hustings in April had to be called off after seals were broken on a ballot box containing postal votes at party headquarters.
The process was being handled at Labour HQ after senior party figures decided the ballot was too sensitive to be organised by local officials.
An internal investigation into who was responsible for the breach, involving the National Executive Committee, has drawn a blank.
Now Collins wants to take DNA samples, using kits purchased on the internet, in the hope of finding a match with samples from the spoiled papers.
The drastic move has caused an outrcy among staff, and dismayed No 10, who fear it will be ridiculed by opposition politicians and could be an abuse of civil liberties.
A party source said: “Ray is absolutely determined to get to the bottom of who interfered with the ballot boxes. The investigation has been getting nowhere but he is not going to give up. He wants to know who did it. It is absolutely bonkers but he is not letting it go.”
A spokesman for the Labour party said: “The officers of the National Executive Committee and the general secretary of the Labour Party are investigating the incident which led to the general secretary temporarily suspending the selection of Labour's parliamentary candidate for Erith and Thamesmead. It is not appropriate to comment on that investigation while it is still ongoing.”
In a move that has been labelled “bonkers” by insiders, Ray Collins, Labour’s general secretary, wants to collect samples from all workers at the party’s Victoria Street headquarters who could have been involved in spoiling ballot papers in the bitter contest for the constituency of Erith and Thamesmead.
Among the candidates running for selection was Georgia Gould, 22, the daughter of Lord Gould, one of the architects of New Labour. The selection process was marred by claims that she was being “parachuted” into the safe seat by the Labour party machine and being given unfair help by powerful figures including Alastair Campbell and Tessa Jowell.
A hustings in April had to be called off after seals were broken on a ballot box containing postal votes at party headquarters.
The process was being handled at Labour HQ after senior party figures decided the ballot was too sensitive to be organised by local officials.
An internal investigation into who was responsible for the breach, involving the National Executive Committee, has drawn a blank.
Now Collins wants to take DNA samples, using kits purchased on the internet, in the hope of finding a match with samples from the spoiled papers.
The drastic move has caused an outrcy among staff, and dismayed No 10, who fear it will be ridiculed by opposition politicians and could be an abuse of civil liberties.
A party source said: “Ray is absolutely determined to get to the bottom of who interfered with the ballot boxes. The investigation has been getting nowhere but he is not going to give up. He wants to know who did it. It is absolutely bonkers but he is not letting it go.”
A spokesman for the Labour party said: “The officers of the National Executive Committee and the general secretary of the Labour Party are investigating the incident which led to the general secretary temporarily suspending the selection of Labour's parliamentary candidate for Erith and Thamesmead. It is not appropriate to comment on that investigation while it is still ongoing.”
Another day another round of ferret in a sack infighting whilst in the real world our national debt is soaring by £6000+ a second.
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