Eddie Izzard loses bid to become Sheffield MP as Abtisam Mohamed named Labour candidate

Eddie Izzard has lost her bid to become an MP in Sheffield.

The comedian had hoped to be named Labour's candidate to succeed Paul Blomfield, the sitting MP for Sheffield Central.

From a shortlist of four, local councillor and lawyer Abtisam Mohamed was selected to replace Mr Blomfield, who announced he would stand down before the next general election, having first been elected in 2010.

Izzard, who is transgender, congratulated her party colleague on Twitter, vowing to support her in the future.

Ms Mohamed has been a councillor for the Firth Park ward in Sheffield since 2016, winning a second term in the local elections in May this year.

Her campaign website describes her as the daughter of a Yemeni steelworker who grew up in the city, who later qualified as a teacher and lawyer representing "vulnerable people" in the city.

Mr Blomfield had backed her to succeed him, saying she had "the experience, values and energy to make a great MP".

Ms Mohamed described her selection as "the honour of my life", but said the campaign had been marred by discrimination.

She said: "We have faced huge amounts of abuse, racism or transphobia throughout this campaign. It has been very difficult to sift through this and continue to run positive campaigns. Yet, we all managed it.

"It’s been a pleasure working with each of you and I look forward to continuing to do so in future."

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