Media
FORMER OLYMPIAN TO CHALLENGE MP HARMAN AT GENERAL ELECTION
Southwark News – 5 November 2009
A Rotherhithe councillor has been chosen to fight Harriet Harman in the next general election, in what is one of the safest Labour seats in the country.
It is expected the candidate, Cllr Columbo Blango, will contest an enlarged Peckham and Camberwell constituency – held by the Deputy Labour Leader for 27 years – in May.
The first black Lib Dem candidate in Southwark, Cllr Blango is also believed to be the first black candidate ever for that seat.
Cllr Blango told the ‘News’: “There are challenges and there are opportunities here.
“People all along have taken people’s votes for granted in Camberwell and Peckham. I will be a credible alternative and a representative that fits the diversity of the borough. I will never take people’s votes for granted.
“I will understand the needs and the demands of the people in Camberwell and Peckham.”
And he added: “It will be an opportunity for me to put an alternative for people of that constituency, who have not known anything different for 27 years.”
Congratulating Cllr Blango on his selection, Simon Hughes, incumbent in neighbouring North Southwark & Bermondsey, said: “Columba is a very good choice as our candidate for Camberwell and Peckham at the next general election.
It is great that local Liberal Democrat members have chosen a candidate of African heritage to stand in the borough with the largest African community in Britain. I know that Columba will campaign hard for all the communities in the seat, and in particular work to ensure young people have the best chance to succeed.”
Born and bred in Sierra Leone, Cllr Blango went on to represent his country as a decathlete in the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980. Since moving to the UK 19 years ago, he has worked as a secondary school teacher, teaching Studies, Sports Science and Citizenship.
He has been a councillor for eleven years and was the first African mayor of Southwark in 2003-04. During his time he has also been the council cabinet member for equalities, leisure and sport and then Communities, and founded the Southwark Community Games, the Rotherhithe Festival and launched the Burgess Park Tennis Club.
Ms Harman declined to comment on Cllr Blango’s selection.
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Liberal Democrats select former Mayor and Olympic decathlete Columba Blango as their candidate against Harriet Harman
Councillor Columba Blango has been selected as the Liberal Democrats prospective parliamentary candidate for the Camberwell and Peckham constituency at the next general election. Councillor Blango was selected by local party members from a shortlist of 4. Columba Blango is the first black parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Southwark, and it is believed the first black candidate for any of the three major parties in Camberwell and Peckham.
Columba was the first African mayor of Southwark in 2003-04, Council Cabinet Member for Equalities, Leisure and Sport and then Communities, Equalities and Citizenship, and a councillor for 11 years. During this time, Columba founded the Southwark Community Games, the Rotherhithe Festival and launched the Burgess Park Tennis Club. Columba Blango and his family have lived in the borough for 19 years, first in Rotherhithe and then in Camberwell. Columba’s three children have all been pupils in Southwark schools: St John’s RC Primary in Rotherhithe, Sacred Heart RC Secondary School in Camberwell and St Thomas the Apostle College in Nunhead. His eldest son, Christian, has just graduated from the Medway School of Engineering has been accepted to join the Royal Naval as an aircraft engineer.
Born and brought up in Sierra Leone, Columba went on to represent his country as a decathlete in the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980. Since moving to the UK, Columba has worked as a secondary school teacher, teaching Sports Science, Religious Studies and Citizenship. He and his family attend both Sacred Hearth Church in Camberwell and the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rotherhithe.
Columba’s priorities in this election will be:
- Working for local, national and international action to fight climate change.
- Working to improve educational attainment, particularly of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Working with all parts of the community to ensure young people have access to sports and other activities to develop their self-esteem, self-discipline and self-confidence in a positive way.
- Fighting for our hard-won civil liberties, including defending the right to protest and opposing ID cards.
- Working to preserve the unique character of each part of our area, including small local shops and green spaces like the Peckham Rye Park.
- Celebrating the diversity of our communities, and running a campaign which reaches out to all parts of the community.
Congratulating Columba on his selection, Simon Hughes MP said: “Columba is a very good choice as our candidate for Camberwell and Peckham at the next general election. It is great that local Liberal Democrat members have chosen a candidate of African heritage to stand in the borough with the largest African community in Britain. I know that Columba will campaign hard for all the communities in the seat, and in particular work to ensure young people have the best chance to succeed.”
NOTES
1. The new Camberwell and Peckham seat will be a much enlarged constituency, although the name stays the same. South Camberwell, parts of the Peckham Rye and East Dulwich area will be in the new constituency, together with small parts of Walworth and Rotherhithe, which are being moved out of the present North Southwark and Bermondsey constituency. The Liberal Democrats came second in Camberwell and Peckham in the last general election, with the Conservatives coming third in every parliamentary seat in Southwark.
