Labour selection contest for Hampstead and Kilburn ends in brawl

Police are today investigating a brawl outside a Labour selection contest which left a man needing hospital treatment after being head-butted.

The 53-year-old was taken to hospital by ambulance after the incident yesterday afternoon.

The assault is believed to have taken place when demonstrators protesting about housing issues clashed with Labour members leaving the meeting, held to determine who represents Labour in Hampstead and Kilburn for the 2015 election.

A spokesman from Scotland Yard confirmed the victim was head-butted and said investigations were ongoing but that no arrests had been made. He said: “Police were called to reports of an assault on Mazenod Avenue at 2.45pm. On arrival it was apparent that one man had injuries to his head.

“His injuries are not believed to be serious. No arrests were made and inquiries continue.”

The selection contest was won by Camden councillor Tulip Siddiq, niece of Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and granddaughter of the country’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Ms Siddiq, who is a cabinet member at Camden, beat fellow councillor Sally Gimson and Sophie Linden, deputy mayor of Hackney council and former special adviser to Labour big-hitter David Blunkett.

The selection was triggered after Glenda Jackson, who has held the seat since 1992, announced she would not stand again. Ms Siddiq said: “I’m so proud to be chosen as the Labour candidate for my home seat, where I grew up, where my husband and I have our home and where my parents got married.

“It’s the local people who selected me and I want to make them proud by keeping the seat Labour.”

The contest was thrown wide open after education campaigner Fiona Millar, the partner of Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alastair Campbell, quit the race.