Sarah Sackman, the Labour candidate in Finchley and Golders Green in 2015, will not stand in the upcoming general election for personal reasons.
Ms Sackman, the vice-chair of the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), won more than 20,000 votes in the constituency in the last general election, but failed to unseat Conservative MP Mike Freer.
She announced today that she would not seek her party’s nomination in Finchley and Golders Green, but said she would not “walk away” from the community.
Ms Sackman said: “In 2015, it was the privilege of my life to stand as Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green.
“I will not be standing as your Parliamentary candidate in this election, a decision I have taken for personal reasons.
"But I will not be walking away. I am committed to the values of the Labour Party and to this community, the place where I’m from and my family still live. I look forward to getting out there and supporting the chosen candidate.
“I campaigned hard for Sadiq Khan’s election and for a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum shortly after giving birth to my first child.”
Raised in East Finchley, Ms Sackman’s maternal grandparents were from Spain and Gibraltar, where her grandfather served as a minister in government.
In 2015 she admitted to the JC that her chances in Finchley and Golders Green, the constituency with the largest percentage of Jewish voters in the country, were harmed by then-Labour leader Ed Miliband’s hard stance on Israel during the 2014 Gaza conflict.
JLM member and Barnet councillor Adam Langleben also said he will not stand in Hendon, the country’s second-biggest Jewish constituency, which Tory Matthew Offord held by 3,700 votes in 2015.
Mr Langleben tweeted: “To be clear - I will not be the Labour candidate for Hendon and whoever is chosen will have my full support.”
Labour candidates for the two constituencies - which have the highest number of Jewish voters in the country - are expected to be announced over the weekend or early next week, with both expected to be chosen from a central candidate pool, rather than by the local associations.
Jewish Labour activist Rhea Wolfson will run in the West Lothian seat of Livingston, formerly held by Robin Cook.
Ms Wolfson was elected to Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) last summer, with the backing of hard-left group Momentum, replacing the suspended Ken Livingstone.
