An Opportunity, Even If Not For Me

During the last 48 hours, several Labour figures in these parts have committed the expulsionable act of asking me to stand as an Independent for the new County Durham Unitary Authority, so strong are their fraternal feelings towards each other. (I myself was expelled from the Labour Party for wanting to leave it - W S Gilbert will never die.)

Anyway, I expect a strong field of candidates in this Ward, so probably won't be bothering; I keep my options open if that strong field fails to materialise. There will be no Parish Election on the same day, so the name recognition trick won't be necessary. (I remain astonished that something like that is unknown to the sort of people about to be imposed as the successors to Hilary Armstrong, Chris Mullin, Bill Etherington, David Clelland, Ronnie Campbell and Frank Cook, in the North East alone.)

But the fact that each of the existing County Wards will now elect two Councillors does present an opportunity for Gordon Brown. Will he allow us to vote for one candidate and have the top two declared elected at the end? What is he afraid of? Is he a giver away of power to the People? Or is he a control freak? This is his chance to show us.