Starmer takes aim at loose cannons with his tight control of Labour selections

Party sources unrepentant as critics say strategy is creating identikit candidates with few from working-class jobs

When Labour under Jeremy Corbyn won a swathe of new seats in 2017, a senior member of the party's national executive committee (NEC) confided shortly after the election that there were at least three new MPs that they had not expected to win their seats - and about whom they had some concerns.

The first was Jared O'Mara, who stood down in 2019 after a string of scandals. The second was Fiona Onasanya, who lost her seat after a criminal conviction. The third, whom it would be unfair to name, turned out to be scandal-free.