The Conservative party candidate Samia Hersi

FEARS are rife among City of Westminster Labour ranks that a general election candidate for a highly coveted parliamentary seat is going to be “imposed on them” without the approval of the membership.

Party sources were unusually tight-lipped this week when asked about the selection process for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale, replacing the Westminster North constituency held by retiring MP Karen Buck since 1997.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to hold a July 4 general election has triggered a rush to put in place scores of candidates to contest constituencies up and down the country.

Potential candidates from Brent and Westminster, including city council leader Adam Hug, have been at loggerheads over securing the candidacy for the Labour safe seat, seen as a golden ticket for any politician wanting to see out a career in the Commons. But factional rows raging inside the party are said to have led to the process being “delayed and delayed” so that the decision could be taken out of the hands of the Constituency Labour Party.

One Labour insider said: “The big fear is that someone from outside will be imposed at the last moment.”

Labour’s National Executive Committee met yesterday, Thursday, to finalise the selection process, with sources saying that the central body would be directly deciding “retirement seats” like Queen’s Park and Maida Vale.

Despite there being just six weeks to go until the general election a shortlist of Labour candidates has not been announced.

Meanwhile the Conservative party’s candidate Samia Hersi told Extra she was stealing a march on her rivals and had been out knocking on doors for several weeks already. The 28-year-old said she was “genuinely excited about the campaign”, adding: “I’m not going to say it’s not going to be challenging, as we do have a fight on our hands, but Labour don’t have it in the bag.

“The polls will narrow. Keir Starmer doesn’t have a plan. He isn’t popular. We have a plan on the economy and we are stopping the boats.” There had been great achievements in the Conservative government, “especially in education,” she said.

Ms Hersi, who comes from a Somali and Muslim family, said: “I’m black. My background shapes who I am but it does not define me. I believe in individualism and aspiration. I think the Conservatives have that at their core. Labour put people in boxes.”

The seat is being contested after Ms Buck announced she would not be standing for election again, 27 years after being first elected in the Tony Blair 1997 general election landslide.

Ms Hersi said: “I’m sad she is stepping down as she has been a very hard working MP. She clearly cares about the community. Everyone has so much respect for her. I have heard great stories about her husband too.”

Cllr Hug did not respond yesterday to requests for comment from Extra on his parliamentary intentions.

But after the election was announced on Wed-nesday, he said on Twitter: “A Labour government will make a crucial difference to our efforts to crack down on dirty money both internationally and here at home in Westminster, where we see ‘American candy’ shops hollowing out our high streets and opaque investors from tax havens hoovering up homes.”