A former Brent MP has been selected as Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for a hotly contested seat in the borough.

Dawn Butler was picked on Saturday to run for the Brent Central seat in the General Elections in 2015.

The 44-year-old had held the Labour-stronghold seat of Brent South until 2010 when boundary changes resulted in the new constituency of Brent Central being formed.

However the former Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement lost the seat to her political rival Sarah Teather who overturned a notional majority of 7,000 with an 11 per cent swing to the Liberal Democrats.

Ms Butler, a former GMB worker, was criticised for almost claiming the full £23,000 annual second home allowance, despite her other home in Stratford being the same distance from Parliament as her home in Wembley.

She was exonerated of any wrongdoing.

In an email sent out by Ms Butler following Saturday’s events she said she planned to call on all members of the Brent Central branch of Labour with a hand delivered thank you letter.

She also pledged to listen to their views on how she should lead her election campaign.

She added: “Now though is the time for us to unite and come together to work for success. “We have local elections next year and we need to support our council candidates both new and old to ensure that we retain control of council.

“A good result there will only build up our support and impetus for the General Election and a Labour council is as important for Brent as Labour MPs and I look forward to supporting our candidates however I can.”

In September, Ms Teather announced she would be stepping down at the next General Election.