Keir Starmer hit by hypocrisy allegations as niece is revealed to be Labour candidate... after sitting councillors mysteriously blocked from standing

By CHRISTIAN CALGIE, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE Published: 20:42, 1 May 2026 | Updated: 20:42, 1 May 2026 KEIR Starmer has been hit by hypocrisy allegations after it emerged his niece has been given a safe ward to fight in the local elections. Ellie Sandover, the daughter of Sir Keir's sister Katherine Swabey, was selected to stand in the ward of Bensham Manor last August. But her appointment to the plum candidacy came after a raft of deselections, imposed on the local party by Labour. Two of the sitting Labour candidates - Eunice O'Dame and Enid Mollyneux - were blocked from standing, despite no known issues. At least half-a-dozen of Labour's Croydon councillors were deselected, the vast majority of them BAME. A wave of nepotism accusations yesterday (FRI) risk causing embarrassment for Sir Keir, in a week in which he celebrated kicking hereditary peers out of the House of Lords The Prime MInister's sister's daughter has been given a plum seat in Croydon  The Prime Minister was mocked after abolishing hereditary peers this week  A local Conservative Party source in the borough told the Mail: 'The Labour Party has questions to answer about why they deselected so many ethnic minority councillors in Croydon. 'It seems they wanted to make way for Keir Starmer's niece. 'I didn't realise that Keir Starmer was such a fan of hereditary privilege. 'He kicked out hereditary peers from the House of Lords but when it comes to his own family seems to have a different view.' Last week the local Labour party was rocked by scandal after four activists were charged by the police over alleged vote rigging in candidate selections - a matter referred to the police by Labour as soon as criminal wrongdoing was identified. It is understood that the Labour Party refutes any claims that Ms Sandover was selected by any means other than usual candidate rules and procedures. A Labour Party Spokesperson said: 'Labour is proud to have a strong set of local candidates standing for election in Croydon and right across London. 'Only Labour is on your side - vote Labour on Thursday 7 May.' Ms Sandover was approached for comment. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.