Labour Sweepstakes

[Steely Dan]

Well I'm totally gutted. Pay a bloke a compliment and he throws it back in my face.

Maybe that explains why you're unelectable.

No, just that I'm smart enough to detect the personal jibe lying just beneath the surface.

Well you're not as smart as you think. There was no personal jibe intended - above or below the surface.

It was a genuine compliment. I'm a Labour member and you had Mike tipped before me.

So, once again well done. Genuinely :-)

[steveL]

In different circumstances, I'd probably be quite happy for him to be candidate and if he tells me he has every intention of helping to disinfect the council chamber I might be swayed. However, we all know that loyalty to 'the party' is everything and that even criminal activity is to be denied and even covered up 'for the sake of the party'.

I don't expect Mike Hill to be any different because individual qualities are subservient to the will of the party. and so far, not one of you has had the balls to break ranks and stand up for what's right - well not without being thrown out for their efforts, that is.

[mk1]

UKIP beat him last time he stood

[Riqueti]

Difficult to compare Richmond with Hartlepool Steve. Richmond is a very rural area and it has been noted that rural communities tended to vote Tory/UKIP. If I recall correctly William Hague's former constituency too

[Inspector Knacker]

Difficult to compare Richmond with Hartlepool Steve. Richmond is a very rural area and it has been noted that rural communities tended to vote Tory/UKIP. If I recall correctly William Hague's former constituency too

That will have been his baptism of fire against the odds or as I see it, the ritual humiliation of the No Hoper. Once he's 'stood by the guns' and obeyed orders, he'll be promoted to a much more welcoming seat. The candidate is irrelevant, the label is what the punters look at. How else could it explain the decades of feudal rule we've endured.  Look at us, we have a cast of pantomime characters who without the label would come third if they stood unopposed.
As Kruschev once said, "A politician is the kind of person who will build a bridge where there is no river". Here we've went one step further, don't even build the bridge, just promise to and give us a pretty picture.

[DRiddle]

I think it's pretty standard for would be MPs to have to be cannon fodder once or twice, fighting for seats they're never going to win, before they're taken seriously by the party. Unless of course they've very well connected.

Look at North West Durham back in 1992, it's been a safe Labour seat since the 50's, big majority, typically 50%+ of the vote goes to Labour.

But back in 1992 it was contested by both Tim Farron for the Liberal Democrats and Theresa May for the Tories. Labour held the seat easily but obviously the political careers of the two who lost have gone pretty well since then.

I imagine if Phillip Broughton is overlooked in favour of Nuttall or Arnott, he'll be fobbed off with a crack at somewhere else that UKIP see as winnable. Either that or he'll be offered some sort of researcher/admin job working for someone in Brussels or whatever.

[testing times]

Wright called for an investigation into the behaviour of Stephen Akers-Belcher just before the 2015 election because he could see how it might affect his own chances. As soon as the election was over he dropped any interest in the outcome and we're still waiting for it.

That's how cynical these people can be and if the new man is anything like Wright then I won't be voting for him.