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A south Wales Labour parliamentary candidate was only selected after a backlash against attempts to parachute in a London-based high flyer, sources have told the Star.
Labour members in Neath selected Bridgend-based Christina Rees to fight the 2015 election after MP Peter Hain announced his retirement.
Ms Rees was supported by trade unions but is considered by activists to be a rightwinger.
The vote was mired in controversy when three local candidates failed to be shortlisted.
In the final contest Ms Rees faced charity worker Mabel McKeown, former staffer to party deputy leader Harriet Harman, and Co-operative Party big hitter Karen Wilkie.
But one Neath member said tactics deployed by “fixers” close to Mr Hain had backfired.
“If they had let the democratic process take its right and proper course, Ms McKeown would have won, because many of the votes Christina Rees received were from the three local candidates’ supporters,” they said.
