The Brent councillor lost to Iain Duncan Smith in the 2024 general election, receiving 12,524 votes to Duncan Smith’s 17,281, reports Marco Marcelline

Shama Tatler, the Brent councillor who unsuccessfully stood for Labour in Chingford and Woodford Green in last year’s general election, has been nominated to the House of Lords.

Tatler was included in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s peer nominations list this week among 24 other names.

As well as being a councillor in Brent, Tatler is vice-chair of the London Labour Regional Executive, patron of the Labour Housing Group and head of the Labour Group Office at the Local Government Association (LGA).

LGA Labour celebrated her nomination saying: “Huge congratulations to our head of office, Cllr Shama Tatler, on her appointment to the House of Lords. All of us at LGA Labour are thoroughly delighted for her.”

She lost to incumbent Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith in the general election last July, receiving 12,524 votes to Duncan Smith’s 17,281. Her vote tally was just 79 more than independent candidate Faiza Shaheen’s 12,445.

Tatler’s announcement as a Labour candidate came amid significant media attention on the deselection of Shaheen, whose candidacy was thrown out in May 2024 following tweets she liked that were deemed problematic by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

Local Labour members resigned en-masse, citing what they called Shaheen’s unfair treatment by the party and Tatler faced harsh criticism from irate left-wingers both in and out of the constituency.

Faiza Shaheen speaking with supporters immediately following the election result last year

Amid criticism that she was a “parachuted-in candidate”, Tatler told the Echo last year: “I’m commuting here every day. I’m here every day. I’m speaking to residents all the time. My team and I have spoken to over 12,000 people since my candidacy. Once my 15-year-old daughter finishes year eleven, I’m looking to shift over [to Chingford].”

Speaking after the election result was announced, a visibly upset Shaheen said she would have won the seat had the Labour Party not deselected her shortly after the election was announced in May.

Shaheen said: “I’m so angry with [Labour] right now. That shouldn’t have happened. Their candidate now gets to go back to Brent, and now my community, the community that I live in, we are going to struggle along.

“I know we’re going to be so disappointed to have Iain Duncan Smith all over again and be disappointed that we could have won if it hadn’t been for the lies and what the Labour Party did to me. It’s a real shame but there’s something beautiful that’s been born from this.”

The left-winger has since been appointed executive director of Tax Justice UK, which pushes for bolder policies such as a wealth tax and closing corporate loopholes.

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