黑洞社区

Barking & Dagenham council leader Darren Rodwell has been dropped as a Labour candidate in the upcoming election amid an internal party process looking into allegations made against him.

Rodwell, who has been an outspoken Labour advocate for increased housebuilding, was not included in a list of parliamentary candidates approved by Labour鈥檚 ruling National Executive Committee announced yesterday.

Rodwell, who was interviewed on 黑洞社区鈥檚 Home Truths podcast last month, had been expected to be the party鈥檚 candidate for the London constituency of Barking, a Labour safe seat.

Rodwell, who has been leader of the council for a decade, has been contacted for comment.

He has come under fire in recent years for a string of incidents, most recently a complaint of sexual harassment after a woman complained he had touched her hands and legs inappropriately at an event last month.

Rodwell told The Guardian on Monday: 鈥淚 utterly refute what is being said, specifically: I have not engaged in sexual harassment of any kind.鈥�

He added that he did not want allegations about his behaviour to be a 鈥渄istraction鈥� and was withdrawing to 鈥減ut family first鈥�.

Rodwell has also made headlines for claiming in 2022 that he had asked police not to intervene if they were contacted by a resident he was planning to confront at their home.

He said on the 鈥楶roperty She鈥� podcast that he used official systems to find the address of the individual, who had threatened him online.

Rodwell also recounted how, in a separate incident, he chased two men down the street with a baseball bat after they attacked his home.

The councillor has led the local authority since 2014 and spearheaded the creation of Be First, the council鈥檚 wholly owned development company.

He is credited with achieving the largest number of social or affordable housing starts in any London borough and claims to have delivered 20% of all of the capital鈥檚 new starts for this tenure each year for the past five years.