Although he does now have his richly deserved KSG to console him, rumour has it that Joe Benton's Bootle Constituency Labour Party objected to his low media profile when it voted for an open selection process.
(Ignore all talk of Euan Blair, a pure confection of the London media, and so is the story about him and Bootle. There has never been the slightest serious suggestion, and all the best money is now on the Leader of Sefton Council, Peter Dowd.)
Well, Benton has been an MP since 1990. It is not his fault that he has remained among the 19 out of 20 MPs who are never on television, with only about half of the rest allowed on very often or when anyone very much might be watching.
Ronnie Campbell of Blyth Valley left David Cameron unable to answer in any coherent way today when he stated the bald fact that the Prime Minister had "made history by bringing a crook into Downing Street". Yet how likely is it that an averagely informed viewer of television news coverage has ever even heard of Campbell, who has been an MP since 1987?
"There are no working-class or non-metropolitan voices in politics anymore," goes the familiar whine. Yes, there are. Any newspaper, magazine or website that does not give space to them is in no position to comment in these terms.
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