Pidcock's Progress?

My own parliamentary candidacy at North West Durham has been nearly 30 years in the making, so it makes absolutely no difference who is the Labour or any other candidate against me.

But the Constituency Labour Party here is now openly briefing the national newspapers to gazette the fact that it intends to deselect Laura Pidcock, who was imposed upon it without consultation in 2017.

Well, now, assuming that there is going to be a General Election this autumn, then there will be insufficient time for the Constituency Labour Party in next door Durham City to have selected a successor to the retiring MP.

The National Executive Committee of the Labour Party might therefore impose Pidcock there instead. Followed by somewhere else the time after that, and so on.

For how many different constituencies might she end up sitting over the next 35 years, without ever having been selected in the usual manner by any Constituency Labour Party?

Another hung Parliament is coming, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party is now in the process of registration.

I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham even if I can raise only the deposit, which I could do by going pretty overdrawn, although that was not how I was brought up. Buy the book here.

I would still prefer to raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign, but I am no longer making my candidacy conditional on having done so.

In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.